fi^-J "^i , /^ S[. 





MRS. LYDIA ( DEWEY) HOPKINS, FIRST WIFE OF ROSWELL. 
From a medallion presented by Mrs. Geo. B. Raymond. 



Early History of the Town of 

HOjailNTON 



HISTORY OF EAST VILLAGE (NICHOLVILLE) 
AND VICINITY 

DIARIES OF ELISHA RISDON AND 
ARTEMAS KENT 

SOLDIERS OF THE CIVIL V^AR 

GENEALOGICAL RECORD OF SIXTY OF THE 
PIONEER FAMILIES 



.-.// TIVO MAPS AND A HUNDRED AND FORTY ILLUSTRATIONS 



cj. i^^i 



CARLTON E. SANFORD 



THE BARTLETT PRESS 

BOSTON, MASS. 

1903 




Copyrighted, 1903, by Carlton E. Sanfor 

p. 

Author. 

(Person). 



(Porson). 

24F '04 



IN TESTIMONY OF MY ESTEEM FOR THE MEMORY OF 
THE BRAVE AND LOYAL MEN AND WOMEN 

PIONEERS OF THE TOWN OF HOPKINTON 

AND THEIR CHILDREN WHO HAVE GONE HENCE 

AND OF MY REGARD FOR THEIR WORTHY DESCENDANTS 

NOW LIVING 

THIS BOOK IS AFFECTIONATELY AND GRACIOUSLY 

INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR 



PREFACE. 



IT may be truly said that this work is founded upon or, more properly speak- 
ing, is due to the diary kept by Elisha Risdon. He came into the town 
of Hopkinton a young man in the first days of February, I 804, and before 
the settlement was a year old. The diary kept by him, which is now at hand, 
begins February 14, 1 81 2, and continues to 1849 with the exception that that 
part of it from 1 8 16 to 18 1 9 and from 1820 to 1 832 cannot now be discovered, 
which is to be greatly regretted. I feel sure it was kept during those missing 
years, since we know that he was well, as those were his most successful years 
hunting the deer. After his death the diary was divided among his three chil- 
dren, two of whom changed habitations several times, when, it is believed, por- 
tions of it were lost. The part which went to my mother, Clarinda (Risdon) 
Sanford, was carefully put away by her and kept as a sacred treasure during all 
the years from 1851 to 1893. However, she never obtruded it or even urged 
it upon the notice or attention of her family, but alone went to it as a fount of 
much pleasure and comfort. To her it was second only to her Bible. Shortly 
before her death, in 1893, she distributed her portion among her children as a 
memento of her father, apprehensive, no doubt, that she was soon to carry the 
message to him which she did. Sweet and gentle spirit, would that she could 
return and read it anew! We would listen now and with delighted interest. 

Meeting Irving Bacheller, author of" Eben Holden," who was searching 
the county for old records, papers, etc., awakened an interest in me in such 
things, and so at the first opportunity I read my part of the diary, when I found 
it a veritable treasure mine of early life and history. I at once got all the other 
portions of the diary and writings of Mr. Risdon and arranged for their publica- 
tion in the Courier and Freeman, at Potsdam, N. Y., which began in March, 
1 901 , and extended for nearly a year. As the publication proceeded many readers 
became interested and wrote me, giving further and additional information to that 
given in the diary and urging me to supplement the diary with the early history 
of the town. I confess I, too, became interested, and not only interested but 
infatuated with the unfolding picture of early life in town, which persistent in- 
quiry and labor brought to light. It was not, of course, a full and true picture, 
yet enough of one to see at least faintly our forefathers and foremothers as they lived 
and toiled. I have tried to so tell and paint the scenes that others may see them 
as I do, but have some misgivings as to my success. My great regret is that I 
did not begin the work ten or twelve years ago. There were then quite a num- 



vi PREFACE. 

ber of the pioneers who could have told the whole story of early life and with 
great clearness and truthfulness. 

After the publication of the diary in the Courier and Freeman, Fred H. 
Kent, Esq., of Detroit, Mich., kindly sent me the diary kept by his father, 
Artemas Kent, from 1809 to 18 19, for my free use. I have interpolated inter- 
esting items from it into the diary of Mr. Risdon with due credit, down to the 
year 18 16, when it is used entirely for that and the next two years. Some very 
important items are brought to light by Mr. Kent's diary, and for which I am 
very grateful. 

Another important "find," too late for publication with the diary, was a 
little pamphlet, handed to me by Varick A. Chittenden, Esq., giving the true 
and full story of the building of the Town Hall or, more properly speaking. 
Town Room, in 1 81 5, with the articles of association, diagram of room, and 
original signatures of the pioneers. This I have liberally used in the article on 
"Old Town Hall" and feel that the history given by it with the original signa- 
tures of our forefathers is alone of much historic interest. 

As the story of those early times would be quite incomplete without giving 
the history of the actors, I have with some patience and great labor worked out 
the families to the present time of some sixty or more of the pioneer settlers. 
This has been the hardest and most severe task in the whole work. To accom- 
plish what I have done (which is imperfect in some families) has taken over 
fifteen hundred letters. Many persons would not reply, while others would 
give so little information that I had to seek it elsewhere, oftentimes in distant 
states. That there are some errors in dates and possibly in a few names, I well 
know, since, whenever I got a family record fi-om two persons, I never found 
them to exactly agree. Then, also, many replies were by elderly people or so 
indistinctly written that it was impossible to read some of the figures with 
certainty. With this explanation I trust and feel sure that I shall receive not 
only the forgiveness but the sympathy of those whose dates of birth or marriage 
are incorrectly given. 

As the south part of the township of Chesterfield (Lawrence) was a part 
of the town of Hopkinton till 1828, and since several of its residents greatly 
desired that a sketch of its settlement, pioneers, and the village of Nicholville 
be incorporated herein, I have done so after considerable research and labor, 
kindly assisted therein by Mrs. N. Maria Wilkins of Stowe, Vt., and particu- 
larly by E. Allen Wood, Esq., of Nicholville and others. 

The maps, papers and especially the old account book of Roswell Hop- 
kins, loaned me by his great-grandson, Isaac R. Hopkins, Esq., ot Hopkinton, 
have been of exceeding interest and inestimable value in the preparation of this 
work. But for these many questions would have to remain unanswered and 
many problems unsolved. The maps, five or six in number, are all small and 



PREFACE. vii 

crude but very old, and tell the story in an official way as nothing else could. 
But greater than all these is the old account book of 1803. From this we learn 
the pioneers of the town for the first four years, or the most of them. Were it 
not for this book there would be no way of ascertaining who were the first 
settlers of the town. The names given by Dr. Hough are only a small part of 
those who actually came. All who feel interested in the early history of the 
town will be grateful to Isaac R. Hopkins for preserving these records, and es- 
pecially this old book, which I take the liberty here to express. 

No town in St. Lawrence County, in my candid judgment, can boast of 
such strong, capable and stalwart stock as Hopkinton, especially in an agricultural 
class. How it came to be so fortunate in its pioneer stock I do not understand 
or attempt to explain. Two of her sons at least, John Peck and Charles Culver, 
became millionaires, as I am advised, while several others, among them Darius 
E. Kent, Dr. Noah D. Lawrence and George Culver, amassed a respectable 
fortune. Quite a number of others who remained on their farms in town all their 
days were very successful, not only in acquiring property, but in winning distinc- 
tion in town, county and even state affairs as men of character and high intelli- 
gence. Among her sons of this class at home or abroad I might mention Judge 
Roswell Hopkins and his sons, Benjamin W. and Judge Isaac R., and the latter's 
son, Roswell; Elisha Risdon; Dr. Henry D., Thaddeus H. and Hiram K. 
Laughlin; Artemas Kent and his sons, Fred H. and Charles A. of Detroit, Mich.; 
Dr. Gideon Sprague; Caleb Wright and his sons, Caleb and George S.; Samuel 
Eastman and his sons, Lee and William; Judge Jonah Sanford and his son, Jonah, 
Jr.; Moses Kent and his sons, Darius E. and Lucian; Eliphalet Brush and his 
son, Jason; Joseph Brush and his sons, Joseph A. and George H.; Clark S. 
Chittenden and his sons. King S. and Varick A. ; Aaron Warner and his sons, 
W. Friend and A. Earned; Jacob Phelps and his sons, Alanson W., William S. 
and Edwin O.; Reuben Post, son Elias and his son, Truman E. ; Zoraster Cul- 
ver and his sons, Howard, Belden, Charles E. and George N.; Hart F. , 
George and Dr. Noah D. Lawrence; Cautius C. Covey; David F. Hender- 
son and many others. 

The work on this book has nearly all been done at my desk and in the 
midst of my duties to the bank with which I am associated, which were of 
course paramount to this work. Thus situated I could go out but little to 
gather information, which was therefore mostly obtained by correspondence and 
interviews with those who were kind enough to come to me. I was constantly 
and continually interrupted and broken in upon, so much so I seldom if ever 
could give it a continuous half day of thought and labor. Writing under such 
disadvantages and getting my information piecemeal, I am sure entitles me not 
only to ask, but to receive the kindest consideration and indulgence from my 
readers. 



viii PREFACE. 

Could I have given the preparation of the work more time and my exclu- 
sive attention no doubt many other interesting items of an historical nature could 
have been brought to light, but I have the consolation of having done the best 
I could under the circumstances. The book plainly shows, I admit, that the 
data and information were not all at hand before it was written. Some parts, 
too, are not put together as they should have been, or as fully commented upon, 
which I now see, but too late for a rearrangement or further comment. On 
getting fuller and better information I rewrote some parts two and even three times, 
but I have not the time or the courage to rewrite it all, and so beg to present it 
as it is. I am considerably " out of pocket," expected to be when I began it, 
saying nothing of my time and labor during the past two years. It has been a 
" labor of love " from the start, else I could not have followed it so persistently. 
If I have done something to save and preserve the history of the grand old town 
of Hopkinton I shall feel amply repaid for it all. What I have done I know 
has already awakened interest in early history in other towns of the county, and 
I trust it may assist in the organization of a County Historical Society. There 
are a good many who very generously and kindly assisted me, and if I have not 
I wish now to thank them. I am especially indebted to Zebina Coolidge, J. 
Henry and David F. Henderson, King S. and Varick A. Chittenden, John A. 
Harran, since deceased, Truman E. Post, George S. Wright, John H. Leach, 
Mrs. Paulina S. Atwood and Charles H. Brush of Hopkinton; Mrs. Edna 
(Risdon) Crosley of Webster City, Iowa; Mrs. Sue Capell of Brasher Falls, 
N. Y.; Mrs. Caroline M. Landon of Hartford, Conn.; Mrs. Harriet M. Ad- 
sit of Perry, Ohio; Norton F. Thomas of Potsdam, N. Y., recently deceased, 
and E. Allen Wood of Nicholville, N. Y., which I gratefully acknowledge. 

The pictures, one hundred and forty in number, were all selected by me, 
and I trust will add greatly to the interest in the book. There were quite a 
number of pictures which I regret I was unable to obtain. 

The edition of the work is of course a limited one, which fact, with the 
many pictures, has made it a little more expensive than I had hoped. 

CARLTON E. SANFORD. 

Potsdam, N. Y., March 20, 1903. 



C O N T E NT S. 



CHAPTER I I 

Dr. Hough's History of Hopkinton — Its Preparation un- 
known TO Mr. Risdon in 1850— The Pioneers of the Town 
WERE mostly Vermont Yankees — Yeoman Qualities of the 
Early Settler — Physical Vigor then and now — Sports 
AND Amusements of the Men — Brave, Frugal and Devout 
Women — All lived in Log Houses. 

CHAPTER II 8 

The First White Men in Hopkinton to Settle — The Town 
founded by Roswell Hopkins in 1801 — How the Goodells 
came to settle — The Cutting of the First Tree — What 
these Pioneers did — The Loss of Coin in the River — The 
First Cabins — The Work of the Axe, Musket and Bible. 

CHAPTER III 16 

Town Number Fifteen, Islington — The Tract purchased by 
Mr. Hopkins — The Actual Settlement of the Town — Th£ 
People who came in 1803 — Who was the First Woman.? — 
The First Child born ? — The Building of a Gristmill, 
also Sawmill. 

CHAPTER IV 37 

The Old Account Book of Roswell Hopkins — The Settlers 
from 1804 TO 1808 — Opening Accounts with Mr. Hopkins 
— Prices in those Early Days — Primitive Condition of the 
Settlers — Some Things accomplished since they came. 

CHAPTER V 49 

Organization of Town — Took Part of Lawrence — First 
Town Meeting, March 4, 1806 — Mr. Hopkins appointed 
Justice, 1805 — Bounty on Wolves — Partnership of Messrs. 
Hopkins — Electoral Census of 1807. 



X CONTENTS. 

Page 

CHAPTER Vr 59 

Essays and Letters by Elisha Risdon — Cleared the Present 
Cemetery Grounds in 1806. 

CHAPTER VII 77 

Location of Settlers — History of the Farms with Pictures 
OF Early and Modern Homes. 

CHAPTER VIII 121 

The Story of Village Green — The First Burial Ground — 
The First Death in Town — Mr. Hopkins's Troubles — The 
Old Schoolhouse and Town House — The Present Town Hall 

— The First Congregational Church built in 1827 and its 
Successors — The Catholic Church — Census of 18 14. 

CHAPTER IX 14s 

The Markets of the Pioneers — Barter and Exchange — 
Scarcity of Money — Making of Black Salts and Pearlash 

— Making of Cloth from Wool and Flax. 

CHAPTER X 156 

Tanneries in Village and Town — Hotels in Village — Phy- 
sicians — The Mormons in Hopkinton — Census of 1821 and 
1835 — Postmasters — Old Stage Route. 

CHAPTER XI 177 

Fort Jackson, Settlement of — - Shops and Mills — History 
of its Three Church Societies — Postmasters and Physicians. 

CHAPTER XII 187 

The Soldiers of Hopkinton in the Civil War — Brief Sketch 
of each. 

CHAPTER XIII . 201 

The Early Settlement of Chesterfield — History of East 
Village or Nicholville and of its Mills — Stores, etc., with 
Illustrations. 



CONTENTS. xi 

Page 

CHAPTER XIV 264 

The Diary of Elisha Risdon with Sketch — Also Diary of 
Artemas Kent. 

CHAPTER XV 404 

Town Officers from 1806 to 1902. 

CHAPTER XVI 416 

Abstract of Minutes of Town Meetings from 1807 to 1901. 

CHAPTER XVII 427 

Genealogical Records of Pioneers — Assessment Roll of Town 
for Year 1850. 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



RESIDENCES, 



Mrs. Roswell Hopkins, 



Abbott, Samuel B. . . . 

Abbott, Seth .... 

Baptist Church, Fort Jacksor 

Baptist Church, Nicholville 

Bobbins . 

Brush, Jason 

Bushnell, Simeon 

Cabin, Log . 

Cards 

Cemetery, Hopkinton . 

Cemetery, Nicholville . 

Chittenden Store 

Chittenden, King S. 

Chittenden, Varick A. . 

Church Street, Nicholville 

Congregational Church . 

Congregational Church . 

Culver, Zoraster 

Durfey, Joseph . 

Durfey, Phineas . 

Eastman, Lee 

Eastman, Samuel 

Fireplace and Full Outfit 

Fireplace, Laughlin House 

Flax Wheel . . . 

Goodell, Joel 

Goodnow, Nathaniel 

Green, Village . 

Guns, Flintlock . 

Hall, Old and New 

Hopkins, Isaac R. . 

Hopkins, Roswell (Harran pi.) 

Hopkins, Roswell (Sheals pi.) 

Hopkinton, Map North Part . 



Frontispiece 
0pp. page 

97 



92 
184 
254 
153 

79 
zzo 
6 
•53 
123 
262 

87 



140 

141 

78 

97 

96 

'•7 

117 

+7 

46 

152 

79 



7 
126 



MAPS, ETC. 

Opp. page 

Hopkinton, Map Village . . 84 

Hotel, Hopkinton .... 87 

Kellogg, Franklin . . . . 185 

Kent, Artemas 89 

Kent, Asahel 98 

Lake Ozonia 352 

Laughlin, Thaddeus ... 78 

Log Cabin 6 

Loom 153 

Map, Hopkinton North Part . 16 
Map, Hopkinton Village . . 84 
Methodist Church, Ft. Jackson, 1 84 
Methodist Church, Nicholville, 254 
Mound Hill Cemeter)-, Nichol- 
ville 262 

Nicholville (Valley) . . . 224 

Nicholville, Main Street . . 225 

Nicholville, Church Street . . 220 

Ozonia, Lake of . . . . 352 

Post, Reuben and Truman E., 98 

Quill Wheel 152 

Reel 152 

Risdon, E. Harmon ... 98 

Sanford, Judge Jonah . . . 116 

Sanford, Jonah, Jr 116 

Schoolhouse, Durfey District . 96 

■Sheldon, Oliver 88 

Spinning Wheel . . . . 148 

Sprague, Dr. Gideon ... 88 

Swifts 152 

Town Hall, Old and New . 126 

Universalist Church, Fort Jackson, 185 

Village Green 122 

Wood Plow of Sewall Raymond, 46 

Wright, George S 92 



xiv LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
PORTRAITS. 

Opp.page 0pp. page 

^ Beecher, Orman . . . . 581 ^ Olmslead, C. S.,and Son . . 244 

-''Brooks, Erasmus D. . . . 559 ^ Page, Lyman 2ZI 

i^ Brooks, Mrs. Permelia (Sanford), 559 ^ Peck, Myron G 215 

Brush, Charles H 434" Phelps, Jacob 520 

->3rush, Eliphalet .... 434 - Phelps, William S 520 

A Brush, Jason 434 ^ Post, Elias 513 

•^ Brush, Joseph 435 ^^ Post, Truman E 513 

\ Brush, Joseph A 435 -^Priest, Mrs. Celestia (Sanford) 565 

\ Chittenden, Asahel H. . . . 466 J.Putnam, Seth 520 

Chittenden, Clark S. . . . 464 -vRisdon, E. Harmon . . . 521 

-^Chittenden, King S. . . . 465 a Risdon, Mrs. Mary (Sheals) . 521 

^- Chittenden, Mrs. Mary (Ris- -"^ Sanford, Carlton E. ... 564 

don) 466 ^ Sanford, Mrs. Clarinda . . 563 

- Chittenden, Solomon . . . 466 -^Sanford, Mrs. Harriet E. (Barney) 558 

-i Chittenden, Varick A. . . . 465 -Sanford, Henry B 562 

\Crosley, Mrs. Edna (Risdon) . 521 :, Sanford, Henry T 562 

Davis, Frank W 180 .'^Sanford, Jonah, Jr 563 

*- Davis, Philo A 180 ^Sanford, Judge Jonah . . . 558 

^ Day, Lyman 215 -'Sanford, Rollin 565 

- Durfey, Joseph B 467 i Sanford, Silas W 565 

^ Durfey, Phineas 467 -^Sheldon, Ezra R 581 

"^Eastman, George L. . . . 480 ^ Simonds, Samuel M. . . . 554 

-'Eastman, Lee 480 ^- Smith, George 574 

•Eastman, William E. . . . 480 -^ Smith, Dr. Hiram .... 244 

^ Goodell, Joel 481 ^ Smith, Ira W 244 

\ Goodell, Mrs. Joel .... 481 \ Smith, Loren 574 

\ Henderson, Mrs. Alta( Sheldon) 28 "^ Smith, Royal 215 

^ Henderson, David F. . . . 464 '^ Sprague, Dr. Fayette P. . . 552 

^' Hopkins, Isaac R 496 ■''Sprague, Dr. Gideon . . . 552 

■'•Hopkins, Isaac R 496 ^ Stacy, Dennis 214 

^Hopkins, Roswell .... 496 -i Stacy, George B 214 

\ Kellogg, Franklin .... 180 -Sweet, Sumner 221 

-i^ Kent, Artemas 502 -^Warner, Aaron 554 

■^ Kent, Asahel 502 -^-Warner, A. Larned . . . 581 

-i- Kent, Darius E 506 !> Wilson, Edson J 582 

*- Kent, Lucian H 506 ^Wilson, Samuel 582 

-".Kent, Moses 506 \ Wood, Rev. Enos . . . . 140 

^Lawrence, Dr. Noah D. . . 221 ' Wright, Mrs. Caleb . . . 580 

^ Merrill, Dyer L 512 --- Wright, Caleb, Jr 581 

-\ Merrill, Silas W 51 z Wright, George S 580 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 



CHAPTER I. 

Dt. Hough's History of Hopkinton — Its Preparation unknown 
to Mr. Risdon in 1850 — The Pioneers of the Town were 
mostly Vermont Yankees — Yeoman Qualities of the Early 
Settlers— Physical Vigor then and now — Sports and Amuse- 
ments of the Men — Brave, Frugal and Devout Women — 
All lived in Log Houses. 

The only history of Hopkinton, so far as I am aware, is 
that contained in Dr. Hough's History of St. Lawrence and 
Franklin counties. There have been, it is true, two bio- 
graphical and pictorial histories (so called) of the county pub- 
lished since, but they do not seem to add anything new or 
much of anything at least to the history of the town. The 
" history " of the town of Hopkinton as given by Dr. Hough 
consists only of a little over five ordinary book pages, and one- 
half of that is official records. His work is a large volume, 
containing much matter, and must have been several years in 
preparation. It was published in 1853, only two years after 
the death of Elisha Risdon. The latter, in his letters to 
Eliphalet Brush written in February, 1850, printed later in 
this volume, pleads earnestly that a history of the town and 
county be prepared and published before the actors in those 
arduous first days of the towns have passed away, which is 
proof that he then knew nothing of the preparation of Dr. 
Hough's work. It is also evident to my mind that Dr. Hough 
had not at that time visited the town, since if he had on such 
an errand, he would have been referred to Mr. Risdon who 
was for years the clerk of the town and was its only historical 



z EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

writer. Again, one-fifth of what he has to say on Hopkin- 
ton is contained in an article taken from 'The iSforthern Cab- 
inet, printed at Canton, N. Y., which he says " is understood " 
to have been written by Elisha Risdon. It was written by 
him and had he visited the town he would no doubt have 
learned it as a fact, especially had he done so in Mr. Risdon's 
lifetime. 

The essays from which the article in The Cabinet was made 
up will be given in their proper place. The files of "The North- 
ern Cabinet, as also those of all other papers printed at Canton 
and Potsdam, were destroyed by fire at the former place in 
1859, which is greatly to be regretted since much help could 
no doubt be got from them. It is plain, too, that Dr. Hough 
only cared to get the official records of the town and a few 
salient points in its history, as that was all he did get and as at 
that time he could easily have gotten the full story of the early 
life in the town. But what he did secure in that line was not 
what Mr. Risdon in his letters was so anxious to have pre- 
pared. He wanted the story of the pioneers, their struggles, 
hardships and privations, written before all had gone who could 
tell them. That was fifty-three years ago and no actor in those 
first years of struggle with the primeval forest remains to tell 
the story. However, there are several who received it from 
the pioneers first hand and who had very similar experiences 
in their early days, who, too, are fast joining the earlier settlers 
in the realm beyond our sight or ken. With the diary of Mr. 
Risdon as a base and these stories as a guide, supported and 
verified by maps, letters, documents and records which I have 
very fortunately obtained, largely from Isaac R. Hopkins, Esq., 
I am able, even at this late day, to faintly picture those early 
times and scenes in the manner or rather after the manner de- 
sired by Mr. Risdon. To be sure it is faint, indistinct, hardly 
discernible in many places and utterly wanting in many other 
fields and periods. And yet I do feel that I have caught and 
saved many of the essential points in the lives of the pioneers 
that were fast passing into oblivion. 

Solely in the hope of arresting and preserving some of the 
little items in the lives of our fathers and mothers and with no 
thought or expectation of doing anything more, I have given 
considerable of my time and energy to their discovery and ar- 
rangement in a connected way. When I began, and for some 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 3 

little time thereafter, I was greatly discouraged and almost lost 
hope of being able to gather any information of importance as 
to the early pioneers. Of the great number of elderly people 
whom I approached, nearly every one replied that the matters 
inquired about were back of his time, that he would be 
glad to help me if he could, and that he was sorry this 
effort had not been made a few years ago. And so it is to be 
regretted. Twenty or even ten years ago many of the ques- 
tions which are now perplexing or even impossible of solution 
could have been readily answered by the remaining actors 
who have within a few years passed away. And all this warned 
me that if what is left and obtainable is to be preserved it must 
be done very soon. In a few years more nothing but the 
stories and traditions thrice told will be at hand to delight the 
ear of the child of his fathers. Thus animated and getting a 
little light now and then I persevered until now I feel that I can 
give considerable of the earliest history of Hopkinton village 
and country immediately surrounding it. More than this I 
have not sought to do, nor have I the time to do so if I 
would. 

The people who settled the town, and eastern St. Law- 
rence also, came very largely from Vermont. Their parents 
and grandparents in some cases moved into that state from 
Connecticut and Massachusetts some years before, and, 
owing to its rapid increase in population due to the mi- 
gration thither and the very large families which it was then 
felt to be a religious duty to rear, that little state as early as 
1800 found itself crowded, and ambitious young men had to 
seek farms elsewhere. Consequently as the Altantic was be- 
hind them and all the land to the south and southeast taken 
up in the march of the Pilgrim fathers and their descendants, 
their only outlet, or at least the most feasible one, was to cross 
over Lake Champlain and push on westward. This they did, 
and the pushing and spreading westward were kept up to the 
extent that in forty or fifty years they had crossed the conti- 
nent and reached the Pacific. 

This accounts for the almost entire New England parentage 
of this county and particularly of the eastern part. We are 
very largely the children of Vermont Yankees, who in turn 
were children of the Puritan fathers of Massachusetts and Con- 
necticut. We need not be ashamed of our parentage, and I 



4 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

do not think or believe that any one from this stock ever was. 
They were radical, rigorous and austere, it is true, in their 
views, opinions and religious doctrines, traceable and due 
to the religious freedom so long sought by their fathers and 
to their environments. We are all necessarily in a large meas- 
ure the children of the latter. Many of the views, beliefs and 
doctrines then maintained and held by them have been dis- 
carded or at least greatly softened by the temporizing influ- 
ence of the greater and broader knowledge, higher and clearer 
views of life and of the universe which we now have and hold. 
It may be that we do not produce any better men and 
women or possibly as good from some points of view, but I 
am disposed to think, from much rummaging in the past of 
late, that we do, that the present standard of life is higher now 
than it was then, and that we are steadily and all the time ad- 
vancing, not alone in culture and refinement, but also in so- 
briety and virtue. 

The people of those early times had but few amusements or 
opportunities for pleasure as compared with the people of to- 
day. The young men and even middle aged gave their almost 
exclusive attention in the way of sports to wrestling in all its 
forms, to feats of physical strength and endurance, and quite 
often to personal encounters. There could be and was no 
gathering of men for any purpose, elections, school meetings 
or raising of buildings, without these physical struggles, often 
ending in a personal combat. Agility and great muscular 
ability were of supreme importance. The stories of the great 
strength and physical prowess of one Jo Call of Vermont have 
made his memory linger longer than that of any governor of 
his state during his lifetime, and we still hear them occasion- 
ally as we do of the many lesser local heroes of the ring. The 
most of us had an uncle or grandfather that was never thrown 
or thrown but once and that was due to an accident. This 
wrestling mania did not disappear as the great absorbing pas- 
time of the people, though growing weaker all the time, till 
about thirty or forty years ago. No doubt we have many 
young men who could equal the heroes of the past with the 
same practice, outdoor life and love of the sport that was then 
predominant, though some may dispute it. 

The stories that come down to us and are still told by 
elderly people of the conduct of the stalwart boys in every 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 5 

school district towards the schoolmaster, and even towards the 
professors at the old St. Lawrence Academy where surely one 
would expect good behavior, are so harsh, rough and even 
cruel that we are loath to believe them. To-day in no school 
is such conduct attempted or even thought of, all which goes to 
show that we are more manly, gentlemanly and better behaved 
than they, though we may in some respects be less chivalrous. 
It may be that the young men of those times had so much 
physical vigor, due to plain food, cold houses and outdoor 
labor, that they could not adapt themselves to the quiet life 
of the schoolroom, but I suspect it was more owing to the 
homage then universally paid to physical prowess. 

Endeavoring to learn the movements of the pioneers of 
1803 and those who succeeded them in the next few years, to 
get a view of the inside of their log cabins, their few and simple 
household utensils, their coarse and oftentimes poorly cooked 
food, their projects and what they did, I soon found to be a 
difficult task. 

But very few people preserve old letters, business records 
and papers, and therefore without these, aside from official 
records, all we have, all we can get as to bygone times, are 
the stories often told by father or mother with so much delight 
to the son or daughter, and a hollow in the ground or a mound 
of stone showing where the cabin built in the woods once 
stood. On investigation we find a good many of these 
mounds of stone, the ruins of the old fireplaces along our 
highways, about which our grandparents and great-grand- 
parents sat on blocks of wood to warm themselves winter 
evenings, with a child on each knee, in their almost windowless 
and oftentimes floorless cabins. 

Their lot was hard, very hard indeed, as we their grand- 
children view it, having and enjoying as we do the conven- 
iences, comforts and advantages of modern life. They were a 
hardy set, it is true, sons and daughters, almost without excep- 
tion, of New England pioneers before them, and all of the old 
Puritan stock. I doubt if there was a cabin in all those early 
years which did not possess a large leather bound Bible, poor 
as its owner might be and as costly as were books at that time. 
They then felt and believed, sincerely and devoutly, that a 
house, or rather a home, could not prosper or long survive 
which was not sustained by the saving grace alone to be ob- 



6 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

tained by that book and the observance of its teachings. How 
much such a spirit, so deep and so sincere, helped them in their 
hard, and arduous life, we of this time of so much comfort and 
luxury may not be fully able to realize. It was fortunate for 
them, and for us also, that such a spirit possessed them. It 
succored them and enabled them amidst all their privations to 
lead upright, noble lives, and gave to us, their children, at 
least a fair start in moral principle and physical vigor. 

I think it is conceded, at least it will not be disputed, that 
the Puritan stock of New England has had no superior in the 
history of the human race, judged by what it passed through, 
by the influence exerted upon and rights secured through and 
by established democratic government and in attainments 
reached in all the multiplied walks of life, civil and religious. 
They believed not only in the equal rights of all, but in the 
equality of all, not alone before God, but among men, and they 
were quite willing, if need be, to maintain their views and doc- 
trines in personal encounter or at the cannon's mouth, as they 
did. Men and women of this ilk and stripe were the parents 
of and settlers of Hopkinton. They had the courage, forti- 
tude and sturdy manhood and womanhood to brave a trackless 
forest and to endure the manifold hardships and privations of 
pioneer life, and in a rigorous climate at that. 

Their loyalty and fidelity, their friendship for and assist- 
ance of one another in moving and raising buildings, in nursing 
and caring for others in sickness, and in helping one another 
in a hundred other ways, as shown by the diary of Mr. Ris- 
don and by tradition, are topics which are pleasing to dwell 
upon, and make us proud of our parents and grandparents, 
and the more so since that spirit of neighborly love, kindness 
and assistance seems to be slowly fading out, at least as a per- 
sonal act. What we do now in this line is mostly done 
through public and official channels. Each family must now, 
in most cases, nurse its own sick or hire it done. 

If there is aught of which we would complain in the life of 
the pioneers it would be the burdens of the mothers. They 
bore great families and as a religious duty, and withal were 
slaves to their household cares and duties, working more un- 
ceasingly and laboriously than the fathers. The old English 
spirit of the lordship of the man had much acceptance among 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 7 

them, and still exists, but in a much weakened form. Brave, 
frugal, loyal and devout women they were. 

All the first houses in town were built of logs and passed 
away many years ago. Hardly any were standing as late as 
1840. Many were torn down and a frame building erected 
on the same site or close by and all traces of the old house re- 
moved. Each had its story of song and praise, of love and 
hope, of happiness and sorrow, of success and failure, and I 
would that I had the power to tell it, and to so tell it that it 
might live — live in remembrance of them and in the good 
which its teaching might do. But I cannot. The actors are 
all gone and the story must remain untold and unsung. All 
that we can do is to pick up bits here and there, showing their 
actions, plans and movements, and from these fashion, as best 
we may, the men and women of flesh and blood who preceded 
us and made our coming possible. 

The cabin which is given is a fine representation of the 
log house, with its bark roof, of the early pioneer. It was 
photographed recently far back in the Adirondacks, and I am 
sure will be greatly appreciated by many of my readers. 



CHAPTER II. 

The First White Men in Hopkinton to Settle — The Town founded 
by Roswell Hopkins in 1 80 1 — How the Goodells came to Set- 
tle — The Cutting: of the First Tree — What these Pioneers did — 
The Loss of Coin in the River — The First Cabins — The Work 
of the Axe, Musket and Bible. 

This is the story which I can give. According to Dr. 
Hough's history, Roswell Hopkins, Esq., of Vergennes, Vt., 
having bought a part of Islington, came into town in May, 
1802, accompanied by Samuel Goodell, Joel Goodell, B. W. 
Hopkins, his son, Jared Dewey, his brother-in-law (Mr. Hop- 
kins having married Lydia, his sister), and Eliphalet Brush. 
This has been and is universally accepted as the first appear- 
ance of white men in the town for the purpose of acquiring 
land for settlement, but to these should be added the name of 
Ezekiel Goodell. To my surprise I find that Mr. Hopkins 
claimed to have founded the town in the year 1801. On his 
tombstone in the cemetery at Hopkinton is this inscription, 
to wit : 

«« Mr. Hopkins was Secretary of the State of Vermont ten years. 
He also held other important offices in that State. Founded Hopkinton in i 80 1 . 
Represented St. Lawrence County in the Legislature of New York four years. 
Was for many years a judge of the County Courts and the first President of the 
St. Lawrence County Bible Society." 

It is not known when this stone was erected. He died 
at Chazy, September 5, 1829, as a result of injuries from be- 
ing thrown from his buggy by the action of a frightened horse, 
and in all probability the stone was soon after put up by his 
sons who came in with him as young men and knew all about 
their father's movements. I take it from this that Mr. Hop- 
kins came into town in 1801, probably for the first time, and 
closed a contract with Mr. Hammond in that year for the 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 9 

purchase of a large tract which they called "founding the 
town." The deed on record to him bears date July 6, 1802, 
but was not acknowledged or recorded till the very last of the 
year 1809. It was dated back, no doubt, as Mr. Hopkins 
had given several deeds in 1803, 1804 and 1805. It is also 
quite evident that he must have had an agreement for its pur- 
chase at the time of coming in May, 1802, since we know 
that he did sell tracts to the Goodells on this trip. It is also 
fair to presume that he did not make so large and important 
a purchase without a pretty thorough examination of the tract, 
and if he did it must have been done prior to this trip in 1 802, 
to wit, in 1 801. The tract so purchased by him is conveyed 
as the north part of town number fifteen. The name Islington, 
which was given to number fifteen at an early date, does not 
appear in the deed nor do I learn how the name was derived. 

The Goodell boys, Samuel and Joel, were sons of Eze- 
kiel, of Hartford, N. Y., a thrifty farmer of that town. They 
were strong, vigorous young men and looking, as was the cus- 
tom in those days, for some forest land to take up for purposes 
of a home. Samuel was born in 1778, and was then twenty- 
four or nearly that, and Joel twenty-one, having been born 
January 6, 178 1. The latter survived till October 21, 1869, 
and was a vigorous man to the end, and took great delight in 
recounting his early experiences in town, and especially to his 
grandson, John Leach, in whom he was much interested. The 
story of the Goodells coming to town as often told to Mr. 
Leach and well remembered by him is as follows: There be- 
ing no desirable land about their home in Hartford for the 
sons to take up, the father started out on horseback accom- 
panied by the two sons on foot, each with an axe. They 
must have crossed Lake Champlain on a ferryboat as they 
reached Benison's Tavern, near Vergennes, that evening. At 
this place they accidentally met Roswell Hopkins, who, soon 
learning their errand, and no doubt that they had the cash 
with them, became greatly interested. He labored with them 
all that evening to induce them to buy land of him in town- 
ship number fifteen, very soon after called Islington, but, as 
it seems, with poor success. 

They seem to have had their minds fixed on looking for 
land about Plattsburg and so set out for that place in the 
morning. Mr. Hopkins, nothing daunted, started for his 



lo EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

home and securing his brother-in-law, Jared Dewey, and Eli- 
phalet Brush, who was no doubt in his employ, and his son, 
B. W. Hopkins, pushed rapidly forward to overtake the 
Goodells at Plattsburg, which they did. After much earnest 
pleading and positive assurances by Mr. Hopkins that he 
would build a sawmill and gristmill the following year in 
case they bought of him, they consented to come on and in- 
spect his tract. They came through Malone and Bangor, 
where there were a few settlers, crossing Deer River just below 
Lawrenceville and following a slightly cut out trail or road 
westerly across Chesterfield to Stockholm, where there were 
seven families which had wintered there. From there Mr. 
Hopkins took them up through Stockholm to the north part 
of his tract, close to the present cemetery, and on easterly as 
far as what is known as the Moses farm. In that neighbor- 
hood they came to a fine spring and sat down to rest. Pres- 
ently Samuel got up and going to a knoll near by began 
chopping down a tree. His father called to him to know 
what he was doing, and he replied that he was going to build 
a cabin on that spot. Ezekiel replied, " Well, if you do, I 
think you will stay here alone, for I don't think I shall pur- 
chase here." At this Mr. Hopkins urged the party to take 
a little tramp southward and see what a great growth of tim- 
ber there was and what rich, heavy soil, which they did, prob- 
ably going as far as the present highway from Hopkinton to 
Nicholville and circling about. Reaching the spring again 
which attracted the Goodells, they sat down to rest and eat a 
lunch and to discuss the subject of purchase, which was the 
one topic before them. Samuel's argument seems to have 
won the decision in favor of purchase, though Ezekiel was 
highly pleased with the soil and timber after the trip they had 
just made. Samuel had recently been to Ohio with a view to 
purchasing there, but found the land flat, low and wet and the 
people suffering from fever and ague, which did not comport 
with his ideas of a place to settle. Here, as he told his father 
and the others, is just as good soil and timber as in Ohio, free 
from swales and swamps, miasma and ague, sparkling springs 
gushing from the earth here and there, and a great river close 
by ready to furnish all the power that may be required. 
What more is needed and what more can be found any- 
where ? 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. ii 

With his son's experience in Ohio and the rich soil and 
fine timber about them, Ezekiel finally decided to purchase. 
Accordingly he set about inspecting the land carefully for 
that purpose and selected the two farms extending southward 
from the north bounds of Islington one-half mile to the 
present highway, so long and still known as the Joel and 
Samuel Goodell farms. It was then understood that there 
would be a highway along the north bounds of Islington, and 
so there they built their first log cabins, the ruins of that of 
Joel's, built near a spring, lasting till within the remembrance 
of several people still living. 

Mr. Hopkins had now made a start. He had secured 
two robust settlers with the cash or quite a part of it for their 
farms. He was greatly encouraged in his project, but he must 
push matters thenceforth without abatement if he would keep 
them and get more, in the way of roads, bridges, shops and 
mills. Accordingly he and Joel Goodell started for Cornwall, 
Canada, for supplies, using no doubt the two horses which 
Mr. Hopkins and Ezekiel Goodell had rode into town. 
They went down through Stockholm to St. Regis, where they 
hired Indians to row them over the St. Lawrence to Corn- 
wall. They were gone about a week and brought back all 
they could bring of pork, meal, flour, molasses and prob- 
bably some rum. While they were gone the others were 
at work chopping for a road and building cabins. Mr. 
Joel Goodell always and to a great many asserted, among 
them John Leach and Edward H. Abram, that the tree cut 
at this time by Samuel Goodell was the first one ever cut in 
town, at least for a habitation. 

It is tradition in the Goodell family that Mr. Hopkins 
came in and selected his tract in the year 1801, which bears 
out the inscription on his tombstone that he founded the town 
in 1 801. Then again he must have done so, since he brought 
the Goodells to town in May, 1802, and sold them " farms." 
In making his inspection in 1801 the story has come down 
that after examination of the north part of the town he sent 
his assistant to look over the south part of the proposed tract 
while he made a little further study of the north part. The 
man went over the south part as directed and reported that it 
was equally as good land as the north part, which Mr. Hop- 
kins had seen. Accordingly he purchased the tract as shown 



12 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

by the map. Had he known, it is reported, that the south 
part was not as good or near as good, which was and is a fact, 
he would not have purchased it. The name of the man who 
came with him in 1801 is not known, but, I suspect, it was his 
brother-in-law, Jared Dewey, and for these reasons : He was 
poor, ready for a job and looking for a piece of land, as is 
shown by th; fact that he came in 1802. In 1803, given the 
choice of a farm from the whole tract purchased by Mr. Hop- 
kins, he selected a hundred acres a mile or more south of 
Nicholville, where Ira A. Murray now resides, on account of 
the fine springs there. No doubt the large pine timber and 
high, dry land were attractive to him as they were to many 
other early settlers. But, further than this. Dr. Hough says 
in his work that Jared Dewey cut the first tree in town, break- 
ing his axe in the operation, and his son, William W. Dewey, 
now living at Western, Minn., and ninety-three years of age, 
stoutly affirms that his father did cut the first tree, and resents 
with some feeling the claim of any other for that act. It 
looks to me that the claim of Joel Goodell and that of Mr. 
Dewey, supported by Dr. Hough, may both be sustained. If 
Mr. Dewey came in 1801, and I think that the fair inference, 
in all probability he did cut a tree while in town and very 
likely several of them. Mr. Goodell, knowing nothing of 
that trip or what was done, years after, remembering the fact 
that his brother Samuel did fell a tree as the others sat by the 
spring in May, 1 802, very natvirally and reasonably claimed that 
was the first tree cut, and it was, that went into a habitation. 

At this time and while in Islington Mr. Ezekiel Goodell 
paid over to Mr. Hopkins the sum of four hundred dollars 
on the purchase of the two farms. Dr. Hough says it was 
in silver, while J. Henry Henderson says it was in gold. His 
grandfather David was a neighbor of Ezekiel at Hartford, 
N. Y., and Joel Goodell, Sr., in 1804 married Lydia, sister of 
his father. Owing to this close relationship of the families, 
Mr. Henderson claims that both his grandfather and father 
became very familiar with all the incidents of the trip of 1 802 
and often heard them related by both, and his memory tells 
him the payment was in gold. 

Dr. Hough says that Mr. Hopkins, after making arrange- 
ments for clearing land, started to return to Vermont on horse- 
back by a line of marked trees, and in fording the St. Regis 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 13 

River his horse partly fell, and his portmanteau, containing 
in one end the provisions for the journey and in the other 
several hundred dollars in specie, was swept down stream and 
lost. The Joel Goodell, Eliphalet Brush and John Hender- 
son families are all agreed that the sum so lost was four hun- 
dred dollars. Mr. Henderson and John Leach have the im- 
pression and are quite inclined to think that the crossing at 
the time of the loss of the money was at the ford just above 
Fort Jackson. 

Eliphalet Brush was one of the party, and so often told 
the particulars of this episode that it has become an heirloom 
in his family. According to him, as given to me by his grand- 
son, Charles H. Brush, whose recollection seems to be quite 
clear and distinct, he, Mr. Brush, was riding the mare and the 
others walking as they approached the river. The crossing 
at this time was at or near where the north line of Islington 
crossed the river, a half mile or so below Nicholville. Com- 
ing to the river, it was so high and strong, Mr. Hopkins said 
to Mr. Brush, " I guess 1 better ride the mare over." Mr. 
Brush at once dismounted and Mr. Hopkins got on the nag. 
When in about midstream the horse was seen to stumble and 
fall, throwing " the old man," as the story goes (he was only 
forty-five), and saddlebags into the river. The others went 
to his rescue and righted him up, but the saddlebags with 
provisions and coin were nowhere to be seen. The specie 
and saddlebags, as Mr. Leach recollects, and he is quite posi- 
tive, weighed twenty-five pounds, and therefore would sink 
pretty readily. The party hung about there for a week, wad- 
ing about the river and for some distance below, but no trace 
of the saddlebags or money could be found. The next year 
the river was searched thoroughly down to the St. Lawrence, 
but with no success. As would be natural, there were some 
suspicions as to the recovery of this money, but they were 
only vague doubts. No clew to bags or specie was ever ob- 
tained by Mr. Hopkins. In some nook or deep hole, 
covered by the wash of a hundred years, the boys may find 
good fishing now if they be sufficiently lucky. 

According to Dr. Hough, the others of the party remained 
and did some clearing, returning to Vermont on the approach 
of winter in 1 802. This is no doubt the fact, except that the 
Goodell boys went home and helped their father in haying, 



H 



KARl.Y lIlSrORY OF IIOPKINTON. 



iftuinini:; to their work wlicii tli:it w;is done. In all probability 
Iv/ekiercioodell ami H. VV. Hopkins returned to Vermont 
witli |iulu;e Hopkins, leaving only the two Goodell boys and 
jareil Dewey and I'Uiphalet Urush to chop, clear land and 
builil cabins. 

'Hu- Cioodell boys no doubt gave all their time to clearing 
on their own lands and in buililing a cabin or two. Messrs. 
Dewey and Brush were in the emjiloy of Mr. Hopkins and 
probably spent their time in cutting out a road along the 
north bounds of Islington from a point a half mile below 
Nicholville where it crosses the river to Lyd Brook, and in 
buildint; one or more cabins on or near the latter stream 
preparatory to the coming of more people the following 
year. 

Mrs. ]ane E.Wood very distinctly recalls hearing her father, 
Kliphalet Brush, tell of his taking his turn with the other 
men in going down to Stockholm after bread. She says he 
wearied of it and built a little stone oven and baked it in 
1 lopkinton, that he borrowed a little dough and used that as 
a leaven, that Mr. Hopkins on one of his trips asked where 
they got such good bread, and Mr. Brush told him that he 
maiie it and how he did it. She does not recall the year he 
did this, but I think it must have been in i8oi, since there 
were more people in town in 1 803 and some women. 

That a road was cut out along this line and used more or 
less for some years is supported by the recollection of too 
many people to be questioned or gainsaid. Mr. Joel Goodell 
built his cabin on it a half mile north of the present Good- 
ell residence and lived there some seven or eight years. He 
certainly would not have done this had there not been a road 
to let him out. He got title to his one hundred and fifty 
acres Octol>er 30, 1803, and Samuel to his one hundred and 
sixty-nine and one-half acres August 11, t8io. 

Eliphalet Brush, one of the pioneers of iSoi, evidently 
did not select a farm on this trip, for the story has come down 
in his family that he very much desired to get a tract on a 
brook over near Cabel Wright's, but others were ahead of him. 
He got title to a hundred acres where his grandson, Charles 
H., now resides, February 25, 1S04. Jared Dewey could 
have had this farm, but, owing to the fine springs, selected 
the farm a mile south of Nicholville where Ira A. Murrav now 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 15 

resides. It is tradition that Mr. Hopkins allowed him to 
select his tract and gave it to him. He got title to the Mur- 
ray farm of one hundred acres in 1803. 

These were the original pioneers of the town, and their 
coming was an even one hundred years ago, but what wonders 
have since been wrought, and with what hardships and priva- 
tions ! All Hopkinton and the surrounding country were then 
a primeval forest, just as it had come down through untold 
and unknowable ages and cycles of ages. The woods were 
full of deer, bears, wild cats, panthers, wolves, etc. The 
streams and lakes were alive with fish, beaver, otter, mink, 
muskrats and other fur-bearing animals, and the air above with 
hawks, eagles and other voracious birds. The most of these 
obtained their living by stealth, chasing, lying in wait and 
pouncing upon their weaker neighbors, undisturbed in the 
strife save only by the regular incursions of the Indian who came 
in from the Mohawk Valley, and also from the north with 
his bow and arrow and club. He had a little greater mental 
equipment than his neighbors of the forest, could build a fire 
and fashion the skins of his prey about him as a protection 
against the cold, and make a rude hut, affording some sort of 
shelter. With this advantage he warred on all the denizens 
of the forest, but in many an encounter was worsted and eaten 
in turn. 

Amidst such scenes how the Indians raised their young 
in a climate like this, in their bark or skin covered shanties, 
with no doctor, midwife or drug store at hand, as we know 
they did from Parkman and other writers, is beyond my com- 
prehension. 

Into this wild and mighty menagerie, this fierce, ceaseless 
and terrific warfare, and struggle to live, came these pioneers. 
A new and superior foe to all had at last come. His skin was 
white, his wits and arts greater than that of all the others, 
and the carnival of death went on for supremacy and primacy. 
The three main weapons which he brought along with him 
were the axe, musket and Bible, and with these in a hun- 
dred years what a mighty transformation has taken place ! 
The axe cut great holes in the forest for farms and homes ; 
the musket wiped out the wolves, wild cats and Indians ; and 
the Bible cemented this little band together into a loyal, de- 
voted and Christian fellowship. 



CHAPTER III. 

Town Number Fifteen, Islington — The Tract Bought by Ros- 
well Hopkins, Esq. — The Actual Settlement of the Town — 
The People who came in J 803 — Who was the First Woman 
in the Town ? — The First Child Born ? — The Building of 
a Gristmill, also Sawmill. 

The tract which Mr. Hopkins purchased of Abijah Ham- 
mond of New York City consisted of six thousand seven hun- 
dred and eighty acres, the very north part of town number fif- 
teen, as then known and designated, excepting that part of 
said township lying north of the St. Regis River and east of 
Nicholville. This township very soon after took the name 
of Islington, which it has ever since held and still bears. Who 
gave it this name or how it was derived I am unable to state. 
The township of Islington was eight miles north and south by 
about five and one-half miles east and west. Its north line 
began at a point in the angle of the road some ninety rods 
westerly of the south bounds of the present cemetery and ran 
due east through or very close to the piazza of the present 
residence of A. A. Atwood (formerly William S. Phelps), 
crossing the St. Regis River a half mile or so below Nichol- 
ville and extending on due east through the northerly part of 
that village (very close to the residence of A. A. Wood, Esq.) 
and on to the Franklin County line. Its west line ran due 
north and south about a quarter of a mile west of I. R. Hop- 
kins's residence and up along the centre of what is called 
the " Peck Road" for some distance. Its east boundary was 
Franklin County, and its south bovinds a line parallel to its 
north bounds eight miles distant southerly. As will be seen 
the township took in quite a part of the present village of 
Nicholville and a large flatiron tract east of that village and 
north of the river. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 17 

The Tract Purchased by Mr. Hopkins — What he must do to 
Succeed. 

The tract which Mr. Hopkins bought began at the north- 
west corner of said township, just west of the cemetery, and 
ran due east on its north line to the St. Regis River and up 
the same to the west bounds of Frankhn County ; thence 
south on said bounds so far that a hne parallel with the 
south line of said town west to the west bounds of town 
number fifteen (a point in the Peck road a mile and 
a half southwesterly of Hopkinton village) and thence 
north to the point began at would make six thousand seven 
hundred and eighty acres. Mr. Hopkins did not get the flat- 
iron piece north of the river and east of Nicholville. The 
tract he did get (shown in the map) was about two miles in 
width, excepting the easterly half or part which is narrowed 
by the river bearing south above Nicholville. The considera- 
tion for this tract was ^10,170, that is, ^1.50 per acre. The 
deed to him bears date July 6, 1 802, but was not acknowl- 
edged till November 11, 1809. It was no doubt dated back, 
as Mr. Hopkins had sold many parcels, and to make the rec- 
ord straight. In 1803, July 9, Mr. Hopkins took a convey- 
ance of five hundred acres in Catherinsville adjoining and 
westerly of above lands from Alex. Macomb of New York 
City. These lands make up the present Isaac R. Hopkins 
farm and Chittenden lands north of the Potsdam road. The 
consideration was $500. On the same day Mr. Hopkins en- 
tered into an agreement with Mr. Macomb to act as his agent 
in selling his Catherinsville lands. It was agreed that he 
should sell no lands for less than eight shillings per acre and 
that all he obtained in excess of that price should be divided 
equally between them. 

These were the lands and all the lands held by Mr. Hop- 
kins in 1803. As may be readily seen, they comprise a strip 
two miles in width north and south on the west end just west 
of Hopkinton village and extending east that width (taking 
in the village) nearly to Nicholville, where they are narrowed 
by the course of the river to Franklin County, and the five 
hundred acres last mentioned adjoining the large tract and sit- 
uated on either side of the Potsdam road just west of Hop- 
kinton village. 



i8 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Out of this wilderness he proposed or, at least, hoped to 
make a large settlement and a thriving, prosperous and happy 
community and at the same time a goodly sum for his efforts. 
The latter was then, and now is, the concomitant of pretty 
nearly every business venture of man. The hope of success 
spurs men on to engage in enterprises which they would not 
otherwise entertain. Though the project may be of a philan- 
thropic character, yet in nearly all cases the idea or prospect 
of gain is behind it. Some one is seeking to do good and at 
the same time profit by it, and it does not necessarily detract 
from the worthiness of the scheme, as I can see. 

Mr. Hopkins was a man of some means for those times at 
Vergennes, and stood high as a citizen of Vermont. He turned 
a large part or all his property, as is shown by correspondence 
with Mr. Hammond still extant, upon the purchase of this 
tract and into this venture. It was a considerable of an under- 
taking, as any one will readily comprehend on a little medita- 
tion. Aside from two or three habitations built in Stockholm 
seven miles distant one or two years before, there was no set- 
lement or neighbor nearer on the east from whence they came 
than about Bangor and Malone, where there were a few. He 
struck right out into the primeval woods many miles beyond 
any habitation, store, mill, shop or factory. There were no 
roads, only trails. All supplies of every kind had to be 
brought in for the first few years at least on horseback or 
drawn by a horse or ox hitched to a sled in the winter time 
and to a crotch or sort of sled that would follow the deviating 
and uneven trail in the summer time from Vermont or Corn- 
wall, Canada. To be sure, some or perhaps all got more or 
less of their meat supply from the killing of deer, which were 
very plenty. However, their guns, the old flintlock musket, 
were poor affairs compared with the present gun, and besides 
but very few of the early settlers were able to own one of 
these, or to buy ammunition for it if they had one. They were 
too poor even for so small an outlay as that. At any rate we 
know that they at once made trips to Canada by way of St. 
Regis for salt pork and other supplies. 

Mr. Hopkins had induced the two Goodells, Samuel and 
Joel, to come and take up farms in 1802, and he must get 
many more or his project would be a failure. He was forced 
to take the position of a sort of patriarch of old, at first at 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 



19 



least. He must look after those who had come and help them 
or they would leave, as some did. He must provide a grist- 
mill, sawmill, blacksmith shop and the absolutely necessary 
goods for living or satisfy the settlers that he would do so at 
an early date, else none would come in. He had risked his 
all, and his success or failure depended on his abilty to get 
people to come in and buy his lands. He purchased the 
lands to sell, and he must sell them in order to meet his obli- 
gations. He knew this, and he bent every effort to provide 
for their wants, as we shall see, and at once. That the under- 
taking was greater than he had contemplated is shown by cor- 
respondence still in existence and by the business troubles 
which came upon him in a few years. 

Whether Mr. Hopkins brought with him in May, 1802, 
wood choppers and laborers, or whether on his return to Ver- 
mont he sent back men to assist Jared Dewey and Eliphalet 
Brush, it is now impossible to ascertain. I think it very im- 
probable that he brought any in May, as that was a purely 
business trip, hastily arranged, to induce the Goodells to buy 
his lands. I think we may also safely assume that whatever 
labor was done by the Goodells was done upon their own 
lands and that about the first thing they did was to build a 
cabin. They must have shelter, a place to stay, and as they 
had decided to locate there they might as well build the cabin 
at once and get the use of it while doing the preparatory 
work. 

Messrs. Dewey and Brush must have busied themselves 
with cutting out a road on the north bounds of Islington, 
building cabins and clearing land under directions given by 
Mr. Hopkins and for him. We have a right to infer if not 
to assert this, since the Goodells must have been assured of 
an outlet and since, as Dr. Hough states, Roswell Hopkins, 
Eli and Ashbel Squires, and Abraham Sheldon moved into 
town with their families in the dead of winter, in March, 
1803. Surely they would not have come in at such a time 
had they not known that there were cabins already built to 
which they could go. One or more of these cabins I feel 
quite satisfied was or were built on the west bank of Lyd 
Brook, justly southerly of the present cemetery. There is a 
fine plateau there, with the brook under the bank and a fine 
spring gushing from its side. Then again the saw and grist 



20 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

mills built in 1803 were built just below and close by. It is 
only natural that the first cabins would be erected close to his 
work and mills. Lyd Brook for a mile southerly of the 
cemetery is a swiftly flowing stream, barely unbroken in its 
rapid flow, with good banks for dams and ponds. It must 
have been an ideal stream when all was forest and the water 
flow much greater than when the land about was cleared, for 
the erection of mills and shops using power. Mr. Hopkins's 
lands did not extend northerly quite to the cemetery, only to 
the present highway. On either side of this brook southerly 
of this highway everything goes to show that Mr. Hopkins 
proposed from the earliest date to build and have his village, 
that is, to make that the focus of his early efi^brts. 

The Actual Settlement of the Town — Who Comprised the 
Party. 

Dr. Hough, as I have already stated, says the four men 
named came in with their families in March, 1803. Perhaps 
they did, — I cannot with any certainty dispute it, — though I 
am much inclined to doubt it, that is, " with their families." 
That the four men came I do not question. Whether they 
came by the short route, crossing the St. Regis River just be- 
low Nicholville, or several miles farther by way of the settle- 
ment at East Stockholm, I cannot say, though I am inclined 
to think it was by the latter route. The tradition in the 
Goodell family is that the party who came in May, 1802, 
came that way, and if so at that time of year the party com- 
ing in the winter time would certainly in entering a dense 
forest wish to rest and receive the hospitality of others before 
going to their cold and cheerless cabins, especially if there 
were women and children in the party. In all probability 
the latter remained in the warm if not luxurious cabins at East 
Stockholm for a time while the men went up to Islington, 
built fires and thawed out the frost and ice which the winter 
had driven into the newly built, floorless cabins with a roof of 
bark, such as all the first cabins possessed. Surely this is a 
reasonable supposition, and so reasonable that it would seem 
that it must be accepted by all. If we accept it, then the 
party of March, 1803, consisting of whomsoever it did, is 
first down in Stockholm resting, getting warm and acquainted 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 21 

with their only neighbors, receiving and imparting encourage- 
ment for the arduous life before them. When the cabins 
were sufficiently warmed and dried out the party packed up 
their plain and simple things and went on to their destination 
in Islington where were none to receive them, unless pos- 
sibly some members of their own party who had gone on be- 
fore them. 

Just who composed this party, the first actual settlers of 
the town, will never be known with absolute certainty. Dr. 
Hough says the party consisted of the four men named " with 
their families," and this is the oldest written authority that we 
have, and some may say we should accept it, and perhaps we 
should and let it go. But we know Dr. Hough did not care 
to give the minute story, only to speak in brief and general 
terms, and that he erred in some things and failed to tell all 
on many points which he did touch upon. Therefore we 
hardly know what to accept without question, and I feel at 
liberty to do a little thinking for myself. 

In the first place I gravely doubt whether Mr. Hopkins 
brought his wife into that bleak and desolate forest in the dead 
of winter. He had been secretary of state in Vermont for 
some years, was a wealthy man for his time and stood high 
socially, politically and in every way. Their last child, James 
G., was then only a year and a half old. Is it likely or at all 
probable that a man of his wealth and prominence should 
bring his wife and babe from their cheerful home in Vergennes 
to such a wilderness ? What reason was there for it ? He 
spent a good part of the first few years in Vermont and trav- 
elling about in the interests of his Islington project. No doubt 
he was in Vermont more than Islington for two or three years 
at least. He had to buy goods, supplies, tools, implements 
for his settlers and fit out his saw and grist mills, all which were 
got in Vermont or Plattsburg. The enterprise was in all 
probability financed at Vergennes, as letters and papers in Isaac 
R. Hopkins's hands go to show. Again, all deeds to settlers 
for the first few years are dated at Vergennes, Vt., and exe- 
cuted there. No, I cannot think that a man of his standing 
should do so cruel a thing as to bring his wife and young child 
at such a time, especially as he was not driven to it and as no 
apparent good was to come from it. Possibly some of his 
grown sons came with him, which fifty years later was thought 



22 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

by Dr. Hough to be sufficient warrant for using the easy 
phrase " with their families," and very likely that was the case 
as to him. 

Dr. Hough in his history of Stockholm makes Abraham 
Sheldon one of the pioneers of that town and a settler therein 
1801 and 1802. He was there in all probability when Mr. 
Hopkins and party came in March, 1803. There is no ink- 
ling of his being in Islington in the tales or stories of the 
Goodells or Eliphalet Brush families with the party that vis- 
ited the township in 1802. The first we hear of him in town 
is by Dr. Hough as a member of the party of March, 1803. 
Did he and his wife come to Islington as members of that 
party, at least to settle ? I am disposed to doubt it and for 
these reasons : He was settled where he was, and how- 
ever humble his cabin and position may have been, would he 
leave it and go up into the woods in Islington and into a cabin 
with others or into one cold and frozen ? Would he not natu- 
rally " winter out " where he was and go up a little later? 

In a " magazine " of the Sheldon families, prepared many 
years ago, it is stated that his daughter Marilla was born in 
Stockholm in 1802. Consequently she was at this time under 
a year in age. Would they be likely to leave a comfortable 
cabin for a cold and frosty one with a child of that tender age .'' 
In the old account of Mr. Hopkins is a charge in September, 
1803, against him for surveying of one dollar. It can hardly 
be that that was done down in Stockholm, as he had left there. 
Is it not more likely that he had sold him the farm which he 
occupied till his death in 18 10, and which afterwards was so 
long held by Joseph Brush, and that this was the charge for 
surveying it out? In November of the same year he had a 
horse of Mr. Hopkins to go to Stockholm at a charge of one 
dollar, which is pretty good evidence that he was then living 
in Hopkinton. 

Then again Mrs. Amanda Sheldon, born in 1819, withmind 
clear and distinct for one of her age, widow of Deacon John, 
who was a son of Abraham Sheldon, states that she often 
heard Mrs. Clarissa (Sheldon) Brush recount her experiences 
in Stockholm and Hopkinton ; that as she recollects Mrs. 
Brush stated that one and possibly two of her children were 
born in Stockholm ; that she has no recollection of her claim- 
ing to be the first woman in Hopkinton, though she did as- 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 23 

sert that she was the first white woman in Stockholm. Had 
she been the first white woman in Islington surely she would 
have claimed that honor equally with that of being the first 
woman in Stockholm. 

If this be sufficient evidence to say that Abraham Sheldon 
and wife did not come to town in March, 1803, or that at 
least his wife did not come, then we have left of the party 
only EH and Ashbel Squires to consider. As to them I have 
this to say : Mr. Zebina Coolidge, who was born January 17, 
1 8 16, came to Hopkinton about 18 17 with his father Isaiah 
andJived near Ashbel Squires for a short time when they moved 
to a farm on the west side of the Racket River in Potsdam. 
After staying there two years or so they came back to the 
Squires neighborhood for a few years, living in the old log 
house of Seth Abbott when they moved April 15, 1826, on 
to the farm in the woods below Fort Jackson, now known as 
the Robert McEwen farm. He now lives on a small farm a 
mile below Fort Jackson. He is remarkably well preserved 
mentally and physically and possesses an extraordinary mem- 
ory of early times. I doubt if I ever met an elderly man 
who excels him in this respect. He has helped quite materi- 
ally on several points, and in every instance where I have been 
able to verify what he told me I have found him correct. 
His father Isaiah married Laura, eldest child of Ashbel 
Squires. She was born at Addison, Vt., January 28, 1796. 
This would make her a little over seven years of age when 
the party came into Islington in March, 1803. His mother 
often told in her family of their experiences in coming into 
town at that time and of their hardships and privations for some 
years after reaching town. 

On reaching Islington, Mr. Squires and family moved into 
a log cabin already built, situate on the west bank of Lyd 
Brook, some sixty or eighty rods southerly of the present ceme- 
tery grounds. The daughter Laura accompanied her father 
and mother at this time. The cabin had no floor and no fire- 
place other than two logs some three or four feet apart, with 
the upper ends resting against the log wall of the cabin some 
six feet from the ground and the other or lower ends on the 
ground inside the cabin. On the ground between these logs, 
with the firewood mostly lying across them, they built and 
kept up their fire. Directly overhead in the roof was an open 



24 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

space for the escape of the smoke or most of it and, I would 
suppose, for a large part of the heat. At the place I have 
named there is now a line of base stone for a building about 
twenty-four feet square. Whether these, now only one stone 
in height and well sunken, were the underpinning of the log 
house built in 1802 I cannot state. Mr. Coolidge has always 
so regarded them and holds them in such warm remembrance 
that he has for years made pilgrimages there whenever oppor- 
tunity offered. Neither Mr. King S. Chittenden nor any one 
else, so far as I learn, knows the story of those stones. Mr. 
Coolidge's mother often stated that her father remained at this 
place about a month until he had sufficiently constructed a 
shanty to move into over on the brook near the present resi- 
dence of George S. Wright, Esq. Mr. Coolidge remembers 
distinctly the trite remark of his mother that when they moved 
over to their new home the leaves were out and about the size 
of a " mouse's ear." He also recalls with much certainty her 
often stating that her mother was the only woman in the party 
and the first woman in Islington, and that her nearest 
neighbor was Dr. Luman Pettibone, seven miles distant in 
Stockholm. 

As to Eli Squires little can be learned or told. However, 
Mr. Coolidge says he did not bring his wife at this time and 
did not till the next year at least, and was so told by his 
mother. His account with Mr. Hopkins did not open till 
April, 1804, with a half bushel of meal, which is quite an item 
of evidence in support of Mr. Coolidge's memory. 

The First White Woman in Town. 

I have given the subject of who was the first woman in 
Islington much inquiry and research, solely and only to get 
at the truth and to pay the memory of the right woman the 
compliment to which she is entitled. Dr. Hough tells of the 
birth of the first child and of the building of the first frame 
house, but he does not tell us who was the first woman. He 
states that the four men named " with their families " came in 
March, 1803, but he had too much sense to say that the wife 
of one of them was the first woman to come. The so-called 
pictorial history of the county published in 1878 copies Dr. 
Hough as to the coming of the four men with their families. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 25 

and adds in the same paragraph the very inconsistent remark, 
that the wife of only one of them, Abraham Sheldon, was the 
first white woman in town. According to this she must have, 
as the party approached Islington, run on ahead and entered 
Islington in advance of the others. 

If the four men came with their families, as this work states, 
there must have been four first women in town instead of one. 
The only authority, so far as I learn or know, for saying that 
Mrs. Abraham Sheldon was the first woman in town rests 
solely and only upon the statement in the "history" of 1878. 
That work adds but very little to what is given by Dr. Hough 
(copying his mistakes), and that I fear cannot be relied on. It 
states that Mr. Hopkins at this time brought in his wife, five 
sons, to wit, Roswell D., Benjamin W., Isaac R., George, 
James G., and two daughters, Maria, who married Artemus 
Sawyer in 1801 and never lived in town, and Sally or Sarah. 
The fair inference also from what is said is that some or all 
the sons brought their wives. Now the first of the sons to 
marry was Benjamin W., who married January 16, 1804. 
Roswell D. was at this time twenty-two, Benjamin W. twenty, 
and Maria eighteen. 

Of course it is possible that Mr. Abraham Sheldon may 
have moved up in the fall of 1802 or that winter and into one 
of the cabins built in 1802, and wintered there all alone, in 
which case his wife would surely have been the first woman in 
town, but 1 do not believe it. Man is a social being, and it is 
not to be presumed that he would leave his neighbors and go 
off seven miles by himself in the woods to winter. He would 
naturally remain where he was to await the coming of Mr. 
Hopkins, the proprietor, that he might feel and know that 
there was to be a real settlement there before leaving his quar- 
ters, no matter how poor they may have been. 

I may not have given sufficient reasons for asserting, and 
I do not so assert, yet I am quite inclined to think that the 
wife of Ashbel Squires was the first woman in Islington. It is 
the story of Mr. Coolidge, whose mother was a little girl at 
the time, just at the age when impressions seem to implant 
themselves in the mind permanently. It seems also to be 
borne out more or less by the. little bits of data and informa- 
tion which I have been able to pick up here and there. Then 
again it comes to us second hand only through one person. 



26 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Mr. Coolidge, and I have found his memory remarkably keen 
and rehable. I have no wish or desire in the matter further 
than to arrive at the truth and to place the wreath upon the 
brow entitled to receive it. To say now, absolutely, who she 
was is impossible. There may be others who could testify on 
the point, but they did not speak, though often invited to do 
so, while this work was running serially in the Courier and Free- 
man. 

Another item I will here give showing the reliability of 
Mr. Coolidge's memory. At the time of telling me the story 
of Mr. Ashbel Squires coming to town he stated that Aaron 
Warner came along with them as a young man. I did not 
then know nor do I think any one living could tell when he 
came to town. His name is not mentioned by Dr. Hough 
as a member of the party of March, 1803, or by the two 
following histories which copied him, nor is his name even 
given by either of them among the pioneers of the succeed- 
ing years. How then did Mr. Coolidge know when he came 
if he did not get it from his mother ? Since that interview 
the old account book of Roswell Hopkins, Esq., has come 
to light, and in that I find what is almost positive corrobora- 
tion of Mr. Coolidge's memory. In this it is stated that Mr. 
Warner entered into the employ of Mr. Hopkins in August, 
1803. Then again I find that he married Edy or Edith 
Blanchard, May 10, 1805, daughter of Amasa, who came to 
town in March, 1804, if not in the fall of 1803, with twelve 
children. Giving such testimony as this as to the reliability 
of his memory may I not, should I not feel warranted in giv- 
ing much credence to what he has to say of those early times ? 

Be the actual membership of the party that came in March, 
1803, what it may, they were the first settlers of the town. 
Their coming marked the advent of woman and of child, and 
without the former it could hardly be said to be settled. The 
town may have been founded as the inscription on Mr. Hop- 
kins's tombstone states in 1801, but it was not settled till the 
coming of this party. They came to stay and did stay. 
Severe were their privations, but they bore them with unex- 
ampled fortitude and finally triumphed. And now, as I scan 
the membership of that little party, I note that all went hence 
years ago. Abraham Sheldon died from the kick of a horse 
at Pawlet, Vt., in 18 10. His widow, Mrs. Joseph Brush, 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 27 

died October 6, 1868. Roswell Hopkins was thrown from his 
buggy at Chazy, and died September 5, 1829. His wife, of 
1803, died June 15, 18 16. Ashbel Squires died March 18, 
1855, and his wife July 23, 1842. Their daughter Laura, wife 
of Isaiah and mother of Zebina CooHdge, died February 6, 

The dates of the deaths of EH Squires and wife are not 
known. Aaron Warner died in 1853. All the children of 
the grown members of that little band who then came have 
likewise fallen in eternal sleep. The last to survive of the 
children were Aaron Larned Warner, who died March 25, 
1900, and Hannah Sheldon Fuller, who died at Sanford Cor- 
ners, N. y., March 18, 1896, aged eighty-six. Two of the 
children of Laura (Squires) Coolidge are still living, viz., 
Zebina, born January 17, 18 16, and Laurel, born January 12, 

Other People that came in 1803. 

There do not seem to have been but a few others that 
came in to settle in 1803. Were it not for Mr. Hopkins's 
old account book, I could not name any others except the 
Goodell boys. They came and pushed the clearing on their 
farms with their usual vigor. Joel went back to help his 
father in haying, while Samuel, being the only blacksmith in 
town, was constrained by Mr. Hopkins to assist in the build- 
ing of his saw and grist mills. Eliphalet Brush began work 
for Mr. Hopkins, March 5, 1803, and worked eight months. 
The entry is dated at Vergennes, and whether he came to 
Islington as such employee or not I cannot say, but in all 
probability he did. Isaac Sheldon began to work in the sum- 
mer, and the account was balanced and settled September 20, 
1803. His name does not seem to again appear in the book. 
I have some information that he was a brother of Abraham, 
and finally settled at Auburn, N. Y. 

Mr. Asahel Wright also began work for Mr. Hopkins, with 
Aaron Warner, September 21, 1803. Mr. Wright first took 
up the Elisha Risdon farm next easterly of Aaron Warner, 
and not long after settled in West Potsdam. Jared Dewey 
was also in town in the summer. Gaius Sheldon was in town 
as early as October 22, 1803. It would seem that Amasa 
Blanchard came in the fall of 1803, as his account is on the 



28 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

page prior to that of Gaius Sheldon, but bears no date. Ezra 
Church has one entry just under it with no date. Then comes 
Mr. Blanchard's full account, beginning. March lo, 1804. 
These, so far as I have been able to learn, are the people who 
were in town in 1803. I do not, however, suppose that this 
was all. Mr. Hopkins must have had millwrights at work, 
upon his saw and grist mills, which he began the construction 
of that year. It must have taken something of a force to 
build the dams, raceways and mills, besides the necessary work 
upon the roads, bridges, etc. Who they were, further than I 
have stated, cannot now be learned. 

The First Child born in Hopkinton. 

Already something has been said bearing on this point. 
Dr. Hough, as I have stated, mentions four families as having 
moved into town in March, 1 803, and one of these is Abraham 
Sheldon. In the next sentence he stated that the first birth 
occurred in December of that year in the family of Mr. Sheldon. 
He does not say Abraham, simply Mr. Sheldon. However, 
the only inference to be drawn from it is that it was in the 
family of Abraham Sheldon, since he was the only one of the 
four families then in town, according to Dr. Hough, bearing 
the name Sheldon. Accordingly he must have meant 
Abraham. Now, it is morally certain that he was down in 
Stockholm in i 802, and that his daughter Marilla was the first 
child born in that town, and that his wife was the first woman 
there, as Mrs. Amanda Sheldon says she claimed she was. 
There is a very faint tradition, so weak that perhaps it should 
not be stated, that Mr. Sheldon was not a fixed settler there, 
and that his wife was a cook for others. Whether Mr. Shel- 
don came up to Hopkinton with the other three men in 
March, 1803, or a little later, or whether he went back to 
Vermont in the fall of 1 802, and came in with Mr. Hopkins the 
next March, is a problem that cannot now be definitely solved. 
At any rate it can be safely asserted that he was in Hopkinton 
and settled there early in the summer of 1803. Their first 
two children were Marilla and Hiram. The former married 
R. Mason Grossman, who lived at Burlington, Vt.,or near there. 
Her daughter Marion married J. H. Bostwick of Kalamazoo, 
Mich., where both now reside. Mrs. Bostwick is too feeble 




MRS. ALTA (SHELDON) HENDERSON. 
First female child born in tow7i. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 



29 



to aid in tlie elucidation of this problem. Mr. Bostwick writes 
me that Marilla Sheldon Grossman died in 1877, aged seventy- 
five years, and is buried in Riverside Cemetery at that place. 
Speaking by years this would make her born in Stockholm in 
1802, which bears out Mrs. Amanda Sheldon's recollection. 
No one of the Sheldon family, so far as I learn, can give her 
birth any closer that this. Hiram Sheldon, as I learn from his 
tombstone in Hopkinton, died April 15, 1820, aged sixteen 
years. The old family Bible seems to be irrecoverably 
lost, and no one can give the date of his birth, though that of 
their subsequent children, Deacon John, February 7, 1 806, 
Julina (Mrs. Clark S. Chittenden), May 27, 1 808, and Hannah 
(Mrs. Jabez F. Fuller), June i, 18 10, can be stated. If Hiram 
was born in December, 1803, he was four months over sixteen 
at the time of his death. 

I now learn from J. Henry Henderson that a Mr. 

Sheldon came into town in 1843 ^o*" '^he purpose of gathering 
the records of all the Sheldon families living there, and that he 
did get it of all of them, making a magazine, as it is called, of 
many pages. This is still extant, and I am furnished a copy 
of it as to the Hopkinton Sheldons. Unfortunately the col- 
lector of this work was content to get the year of birth only. 
In no case is the month or day given, but the year is correct 
of all the children in all the families so far as is known, which 
speaks well for its correctness. Mr. Henderson remembers 
of his father taking this man to Ezra and Gaius Sheldon for 
the purpose of getting the record. In this magazine the birth 
of Marilla is given as 1 802, that of Hiram as 1 804, and that 
of the others as just stated. This work was prepared ten 
years prior to the publication of Dr. Hough's history, and 
surely it is just as likely, if not more so, to be correct. It is 
not to be presumed for a moment but that he got the Abra- 
ham Sheldon record from his widow, Mrs. Joseph Brush, who 
was a remarkably bright and strong old lady. If Hiram was 
born in the first months of 1804 it would the more nearly 
conform to the inscription on his tombstone and be in keep- 
ing with the births of the other children, namely, every second 
year. Dr. Hough, as we know, made mistakes and neglected 
to tell all. 

Now we know that Gaius Sheldon was in town as early as 
October, 1803, and some of his descendants stoutly affirm that 



30 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

they were told by his wife that their son Amos Curtis was the 
first male child born in town. However, they can only give 
his birth as 1805, which agrees with the magazine, and 
makes it pretty certain that he was not the first child. The 
Oliver Sheldon descendants are confident that he came to town 
in 1803, and the fact that he secured the farm next east of 
Henry McLaughlin would seem to confirm them. However, 
his account with Mr. Hopkins did not open till July, 1804. 
His daughter Alta, who married John Henderson, was born 
September 21, 1804, and in Hopkinton, as the magazine 
states and as is shown by the family record. She had a pro- 
digious memory of early times and lived till August 23, 1890. 

It is conceded, or at least I hear it nowhere disputed, that 
she was the first female child born in town. A likeness of 
her, which those who remember her pronounce to be good, is 
here given. There is no dispute but that Ashbel Squires was 
in town in March, 1803. His descendants, or at least those 
I have reached, claim that his son Ira, horn March 6, 
1804, was the first male child born in town, and if he was not 
he must have come very near being. It may be that in their 
anxiety to claim the honor they got " mixed " as to towns. 
The town of Hopkinton was not organized till March, 1805. 
Ashbel Squires and Gaius Sheldon lived in town number four- 
teen, called Catherinsville, while Abraham and Oliver Sheldon 
lived in town number fifteen, called Islington, but this should 
not have confused Dr. Hough, writing in 1850. 

After all it seems to me from all the light I can gather 
that we must still give the credit of the first born to Hiram 
Sheldon, son of Abraham, though I doubt his birth in 
December, 1803, as stated by Dr. Hough. It seems to me 
the record given in the " magazine " of the Sheldon family 
superior authority, as it was specifically prepared with care as a 
record, and as all other dates in it are correct. At any rate 
it seems to lie between him and Ira Squires. To Alta, daugh- 
ter of Oliver Sheldon, we must give hail as the first miss 
of the town. 

The First Gristmill, also Sawmill. 

Dr. Hough states in his history that the first gristmill was 
built by Mr. Hopkins in 1803 on Lyd Brook, near the pres- 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 31 

ent village of Hopkinton. In his history of Stockholm he 
states that it was not completed till 1 804. We learn from 
Mr. Risdon's diary that Mr. Hopkins built a gristmill up 
in the village on the same brook in 18 15. Many people can 
recall this building, but no one can remember seeing or know- 
ing it to be in actual use, though they know it did run for a 
time by general report. Dr. Hough's work was published in 
1 853, yet he does not mention this mill. His use of the words 
"near the present village" plainly shows that he did not refer 
to the mill of 1 815, for that was distinctly in the village. 

I could not for some time make up my mind that there 
ever was a gristmill in or near the village, aside from the one 
built in 181 5. The more I investigated the more I became 
convinced that there was not. I communicated with all the 
elderly people I could learn of, but not one could recall this 
mill or its ruins or of ever having heard of it. I did get 
some vague information as to a deep hole in the rocky bed of 
Lyd Brook, opposite the cemetery, where people years ago 
were wont to wash sheep and boys go in swimming, called the 
"sheep hole," and of a stick of timber there which it was 
thought might have been a sill timber, but this was hardly 
sufficient to say that a mill once stood there. I visited the 
place and walked along the brook for some distance, but could 
find not the slightest trace that a mill was ever there. The 
men who could tell and for whom it ground grain for food are 
all or mostly all up in the cemetery which makes the westerly 
bank of the brook. Murmuring not they sleep while the 
brook sings its same song as it ripples along over its rocky bed, 
and will so sleep and sing for aeons of ages to come. 

Then, too, it did not seem to me probable, or should I 
say possible, that a mill could have been built, as Dr. Hough 
says, in 1803. The first real settlement of the town was in 
March of that year. There were no people there save those 
who then came. It was all an untouched forest aside from 
what a few men may have done the previous summer and 
fall. It seemed to me that they would necessarily be too busy 
looking after their wants to give any time to the building of a 
mill. They must have cabins for shelter and they must clear 
land for crops or they could not live. What would be the 
use of a mill if there was no grain to grind .'' Why put up a 



32 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

mill when there could be no grain till some ground was cleared 
and a crop raised? 

Thus 1 reflected. But, I suspect, some bits or patches of 
crops were put in among the stumps very soon, possibly that 
season. I failed to consider that Mr. Hopkins was the pro- 
prietor and that the building of mills, shops, etc., was his part 
of the program in making the town a fit habitation. No 
doubt he brought employees from Vermont to do his work, 
leaving the settlers to do their clearing, build cabins and look 
after themselves. What a trial and struggle it must have been 
for those few people, so distant from civilization and in a pri- 
meval forest ! 

Unable to learn anything of a definite nature as to the ac- 
tual existence or location of this mill I began to despair, when 
Mr. Isaac R. Hopkins brought me a bundle of his great- 
grandfather, Roswell Hopkins's, old papers. Among these I 
found an agreement of copartnership between Roswell Hop- 
kins and his son, B. W. Hopkins, which places the whole 
matter at rest. It bears date April 23, 1806, and is witnessed 
by Thads. Laughlin and Jonas Harwood. By its terms, as I 
read it, Mr. Roswell Hopkins turned into the " concern," 
with much other property, his " sawmill in said township with 
the privilege of land sufficient for pond, mill yard, etc., also 
improvements and uses of his farm and gristmill in said town 
of Hopkinton." This shows conclusively the existence of a 
gristmill and also a sawmill in town as early as 1806. In ar- 
ticle four of said agreement the gristmill is quite definitely lo- 
cated. Mr. B. W. Hopkins had then bought a tract of land 
in Chesterfield lying just north of the road leading westerly 
from A. A. Atwood's (formerly William S. Phelps's), taking in 
Lyd Brook, the cemetery and lands some ninety roads westerly 
and north to St. Regis River, which he called his farm. He 
agreed when this was paid for to deed to the said Roswell " a 
sufficient quantity of the land in Chesterfield so as to include 
the gristmill and the privileges of the water, ponds, dams, 
etc., which may or shall be necessary for the accommodation 
of said gristmill." 

From this it is evident that the gristmill at least stood 
just north of the road above mentioned, and the fair inference, 
if not the plain statement, is that the dam and at least a part 
of the pond did also. Be the inference what it may, we have 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 



?3 



positive and unqualified proof that it did stand just below the 
road. Mrs. Paulina S. Atwood of Hopkinton and her sister, 
Mrs. Caroline M. Landon, of Hartford, Conn., daughters of 
William S. Phelps, born only a few rods distant, not only 
remember the old dam, but of its being sufficient to hold water 
to enable the boys to go in swimming in the pond, to the 
annoyance of neighbors and passers-by. The more timid boys 
would go under the bridge as people drove by, but on one 
occasion some bold boys came up into the road and chased 
some women driving by, which so incensed the people that 
swimming in the pond was prohibited. Mrs. Landon further 
distinctly remembers seeing her mother baptized in the water 

of this pond. Again Mr. Kimpton of ,Iowa, who built 

the present dam immediately above the bridge in 1 862, also re- 
members the ruins of an old dam just below the bridge. 

The dam I take it was not very high, as the ground for 
some little distance to the east is rather low and since a high 
dam would have flowed the stream some distance above the 
road where, somehow, I am very confident the sawmill stood, 
though no one can recall the slightest relic of dam or mill at 
this point. The west bank of the cemetery grounds has been 
filled in so that we cannot say whether the water was carried 
in a ditch in said bank to the gristmill some twelve rods 
north and on to an overshot, or in a trough to an undershot 
wheel, but in all probability the former. 

This, it must be conceded, is sufficient proof of the exist- 
ence of the gristmill and of its location with considerable 
certainty. I have, however, luckily found more definite and 
certain evidence as to where it stood. In the official record 
book of the town is the survey bill of a road which reads as 
follows: "And on the same day, November 10, 1808, run 
out one other highway, beginning at the northeast corner of 
Roswell Hopkins's gristmill, thence south eight degrees east 
seven rods, thence south fifty-eight degrees east fifty rods to 
the main street, said highway to be six rods wide." Henry 
McLaughlin, surveyor ; Abraham Sheldon, Jonas Harwood, 
commissioners; B. W. Hopkins, town clerk. This would 
bring the road from the mill to the main street, just west of 
A. A. Atwood's residence. Mr. G. W. F. Smith of Pots- 
dam, surveyor, has figured it out for me and says that the 



34 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

north side or end of the mill would be seventeen rods north 
from a due east and west road. 

Thus, ninety-eight years later, we are able to locate the 
old mill, at least within a few feet, since a survey in 1806 
placed the east and west road on the north line of Islington 
where it is now. It is not only quite evident, but morally 
certain, that the gristmill' and sawmill were not in the same 
building. I would be inclined to think they were, as that was 
the custom in those days, and since the construction of build- 
ings, water wheels, etc., was no trifling matter so far removed 
and in a great forest, but the record evidence, or a reasonable 
construction of what there is, is decidedly against it. In the 
partnership agreement already mentioned the sawmill and 
gristmill are not only not mentioned together or in the same 
sentence, but in separate sentences. Again, in that part of the 
agreement where B. W. Hopkins agrees' to give his father a 
deed, the gristmill only is mentioned, as is also the case in 
the survey bill of the road to the gristmill. Had they been 
in the same building, would they not have spoken of them in 
the same sentence ? Does not the fact that B. W. Hopkins 
agreed to convey the land used by the gristmill preclude any 
inference that the sawmill stood on the same ground ? It 
seems to me that it does. The fact that both are given as 
being in Hopkinton does not help us any, as in the Act creating 
the town passed in 1805 a large part of Chesterfield (Lawrence) 
was made a part of the town. But what may be regarded as 
better evidence still as to the location of the sawmill is a very 
old map of Hopkinton village and Lyd Brook made by or for 
Mr. Hopkins. On its filing page as folded are the figures 
" 1 814," indicating that to be its date. This locates the saw- 
mill on the westerly side of Lyd Brook immediately above the 
bridge crossing the stream near the cemetery. The gristmill 
is located up in the village just below the upper bridge on the 
westerly side of the brook where the second mill stood. As 
this mill was built in 1 815, it is evident that the figures " 1814" 
are not quite late enough. No other gristmill is given on 
the map. All these things put together work in unison and 
it seems to me place the first sawmill just above the bridge 
near the cemetery. Dr. Hough does not mention the first 
sawmill or any mill of that character except the one built at 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 35 

Fort Jackson by Isaac R. Hopkins in 1824, at the raising of 
which the place was given the name it still bears. 

In the article by Mr. Risdon giving an account of the 
building of a bridge over Deer River just below Lawrence- 
ville in March, 1805, he tells also of the building of a foot- 
bridge over the St. Regis just above the village of Fort Jack- 
son, possibly that year or the next, and of placing plank on the 
wooden horses, for a walk. It was a mystery to me for some 
time where they got these plank, but this copartnership paper, 
and still more definitely the account book of Mr. Hopkins, 
settle all that. They were sawn in Mr. Hopkins's mill. 

As to when the mill began business I can find only two 
or possibly three entries in the entry book relating to the 
grinding of grain. The first is this : Thomas Remington's 
account under date of July, 1805, viz.: "To toll, four bushels 
wheat, sixty cents ; to toll, one bushel corn six cents." The sec- 
ond is in Reuben Post's account under date of April 15, 1806, 
as follows : " To grinding one bushel of wheat without toll, 
fourteen cents." In Samuel Eastman's account under date of 
March 27, 1804, is this entry: "To flour of four and third 
bushels, $4.34." Just what this means may be a little uncertain. 
It is evident that the want of entries for grinding was due to 
the fact that in nearly every case the parties paid for it by 
toll, in which case there was no occasion for charging further 
than an entry on the mill blotter or a chalk mark to show 
what the mill did. 

In the case of sawing there are a great many items. 
Nearly every account has them and some quite a number. 
The first that I find are as follows : Eliakim Seeley, February, 
1805: "To ninety-four feet boards, fifty cents." Jasper 
Armstrong, February 13, 1805: "To three hundred and 
thirty feet bass boards, $1.65." Oliver Sheldon, February 16, 
1805 : "To sawing one hundred and fifty-six feet bass boards, 
thirty-nine cents." From these it is evident that the mill 
was in operation in February, 1805 and probably before that. 

The first two items are sales of lumber already sawn by 
Mr. Hopkins. 

This old book brings to light the first sawmill ever in 
the town and of which no one living ever heard, nor of which 
there is any record save in the copartnership agreement, and 
tells us very nearly when it began business. It also brings to 



36 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

view the little gristmill down in the woods by the cemetery 
with its one run of stone, slowly; fitfully, and creakingly con- 
verting the pioneers' small grist, taken to it by the child on 
horseback, into a coarse flour or meal, which mill too had 
all but passed from human ken or knowledge. 

And yet some people will say and do say that all such re- 
search is of little or no account, that those times and scenes 
have passed away and it matters not to us what they did or 
what they wore or how they struggled or how they lived. 
Some may say and some do say that those who love to resur- 
rect the past, to put the bits of information that we are able 
to gather together so that we can in a measure see and greet 
our grandfathers and grandmothers as they were and as they 
loved and lived, do so for the pleasure which such an invidi- 
ous comparison with our own lot affords, but this is not true, 
and only those who are both deaf and dead to all those 
gentler, kindlier sensibilities which make us thoughtful and 
loving beings so think or feel. 



CHAPTER IV. 

The Old Account Book of Roswell Hopkins — The Settlers who 
came into Town in J804 to 1808 — Opening: Accounts with 
Roswell Hopkins — Prices of Goods in those Early Days — 
Primitive Ojndition of the Settlers — Some Thingfs accom- 
plished since they came. 

After stating that the four men " with their families," al- 
ready named, came into town in 1803, Dr. Hough further 
says that in 1804 and 1805 the following additional men came 
in, many of them with their families, to wit, Thomas Rem- 
ington, Gaius Sheldon, Reuben Post, Eliakim Seeley, Henry 
McLaughlin, Thaddeus McLaughlin, Horace Train, Jasper 
Armstrong and Seth Abbott. 

The fair inference is that Roswell Hopkins, Eli and Ash- 
bel Squire and Abraham Sheldon were the only inhabitants 
of the town for the year 1803. This is clearly a mistake, as 
is apparent from a little reflection and as I have already shown. 
The error of Dr. Hough as to the people who came in 1803 
is not so great however as that committed by him as to the 
people who came in 1804 and 1805, which I am enabled to 
conclusively show by the old account book of Roswell Hop- 
kins. It is from this quite evident that all he cared to do was 
to get the names of a few of the leading pioneers, or else that 
he was content with such as his informant could recall. At 
that time he could have got them all had he made any par- 
ticular effort. 

This old account book has thin wood board covers with 
paper pasted on to them. The leaves are fifteen inches in 
length by six in width, rather poor paper, with no cross lines, 
and with red lines for dollars and cents drawn by the owner. 



38 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

The first page is headed, " Vergennes, March 5th, 1803," and 
the first entry as follows : 

Eliphalet Brush began to work for me this day. 

April, sick nine days with measles. 

June, sick one day. 

November 13, balanced books, made up eight months at $12. 

The next entry is an account of wheat and flour sold to 
Eli Squire without dates except that it was paid April 14, 
1804. The wheat was two bushels and ten quarts lent and 
may have been used as seed on his place in Addison, Vt., 
in 1803. His formal account did not open till April, 1804. 
Mr. Coolidge says Mr. Eli Squire did not bring his wife to 
town in March, 1803, and not for some time later. The date 
of this account is another straw in support of his recollection. 

The next entry is this heading across the page : 

" Lyd Brook, June 10, 1803." 

This is the name given to the brook running through 
Hopkinton village by Mr. Hopkins and so named after his 
wife, Lydia, The naming of this brook seems to have been 
one of his first acts on coming to town to settle. 

Following this, Isaac Sheldon began work, was sick two 
days and absent six days in Stockholm. The account was 
balanced September 20, 1803. I do not see as Mr. Sheldon 
had any other account, and I think he must have quit the 
town at a very early date. He married Sarah Armstrong, 
sister of Mrs. Abraham Sheldon, and took up, as I learn from 
a very old map of Mr. Hopkins, lot number forty-two, being 
the east or main part of the Truman E. Post farm. He 
soon sold it to Joseph Armstrong, who sold it in 1808 to 
Reuben Post. I hear by the bye that Mr. Sheldon was a 
brother of Abraham and settled at Auburn, N. Y. 

Among the other items on the first page are a sale to 
Abraham Sheldon of one quart of rum, surveying for him one 
dollar, discount with Isaac Sheldon eight dollars, and a 
horse to go to Stockholm, one dollar, and also a charge to 
Jared Dewey for a yoke of oxen to go to Chateaugay for pro- 
visions and for considerable bread and flour at about one shil- 
ling per pound. From this item it is quite evident that Abra- 
ham Sheldon came up from Stockholm, where he was located in 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 



39 



1802, or in from Vermont, as early as the summer of 1803, if 
not earlier in that year. 

This old account book begins early in the year 1803 and 
extends well into the year 1 807. It contains itemized accounts 
with each of the following men, and is particularly interesting 
in showing the goods used by the pioneers, prices of the same, 
and is invaluable in that it gives the names of the pioneers 
who came in those first years, and about when they came. 
Were it not for this old book it would be impossible to give 
the names of the settlers for 1 804 and i 805 with any certainty 
beyond the nine men named by Dr. Plough. How fortunate 
that it has been preserved ! The men who came to town in 
those first years, or at least those of them who opened an ac- 
count with Mr. Hopkins, with the date of such opening are as 
follows : 

William Staples, February 7, 1805. 
Jasper Armstrong, February 13, 1805. 
Phineas Durfey, March, 1805. 
Elisha Risdon, April i, 1805. 
Eli Tomlinson, August zo, 1805. 
Simeon Bushnell, August 22, 1805. 
Robert Bisby, September 6, 1805. 
Joseph Durfey, September 6, 1805. 
Luther Bingham, April 10, 1806. 
M. Hamilton, April 28, 1806. 
Benjamin Harvvood, Dec. 25, 1806. 
Dr. Stephen Langworthy, June, 1807. 
John Hoit, June, 1 807. 
Horace Train, July, 1807. 
Nathaniel Rudd, July 4, 1807. 
James Fierce, July 6, 1807. 
Jonathan Pierce, July 6, 1807. 
Jonas Harwood, July, 1807. 
Eli Roburds, July 21, 1807. 
Job Greene, August, 1807. 
Abijah Chandler, August, 1807. 
Ros. D. Hopkins, August, 1807. , 
Eldad K. Curtis, August, 1807. 
Samuel Buckingham, August, 1807. 
Harry Train. 

John Thomas, November, 1808. 
Samuel Harris, November, 1808. 
Eliphalet Brush, November, 1808. 
Joseph Brush, November 21, 1808. 
Ephraim Buckingham, Nov., 1 808. 
James Sanders, November, i8o8. 



04. 



Eliphalet Brush, March 5, 1803. 
Isaac Sheldon, 1803. 
Abraham Sheldon, July, 1803. 
Jared Dewey, 1803. 
Amasa Blanchard, September, 1803, 
Gains Sheldon, October 2z, 1803. 
Ashbel Squire, December 23, 1803. 
Eben Hurlbut, 1803. 
Samuel Goodell, March 10, 1804. 
Joel Goodell, March, 1804. 
Eli Squire, April, 1804. 
Eliphalet Hancock, March i 7 
Aaron Warner, March, 1804. 
Isaac Kelsey, 1804. 
Eliakim Seeley, March, 1804. 
Samuel Eastman, March 27, 1804. 
David French, March 29, 1804. 
Thomas Remington, April, 1 804. 
Henry McLaughlin, May 8, 1804. 
Robert Train, June 4, I 804. 
William Brush, June 16, 1 804. 
Asahel Wright, June, I 804. 
Reuben Post, June 28, 1804. 
Benjamin Raymond, i 804. 
Joseph Delong, July 6, 1 804. 
Ezra Church, July 7, 1804. 
Oliver Sheldon, July 23, 1804. 
Seth Abbott, September 26, 1804. 
Sylvester Jargway, October 2, 1804. 
Caleb Wright, October 15, 1804. 
Amasa Blanchard, Jr., January 7, 1 805 



40 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 



The name Eben Hurlbut should be Ebenezer Hulburd 
of East Stockholm, one of the first and ablest pioneers of that 
town. Benjamin Raymond was the pioneer settler at Potsdam. 
He left forty-six bushels of wheat " in the mill," presumably 
in Mr. Hopkins's mill built in 1 803. Benjamin Harwood took 
up the tract across the road from Samuel Eastman's. His wife 
died leaving several little children, and being poor he sold his 
betterments to Caleb Wright and moved away. Nathaniel 
Rudd married Waity, sister of Roswell Hopkins, and had held 
the position of major, by which title he was called. His place 
was Mechanic Lot number three, next south of the Jacob 
Phelps place. 

The place of abode of the foregoing pioneers not residing 
in Hopkinton proper, to the best of my information, was as fol- 
lows : Isaac Kelsey and William Staples in Stockholm ; Simeon 
Bushnell, J. and J. Pierce, Samuel Harris, James Sanders and 
Abijah Chandler in Chesterfield. Mr. Bushnell first came to 
Hopkinton and was then probably a single man. He got two 
and a quarter pounds of bread of Mr. Hopkins, August 23, 
1805, and began work for him April 10, 1806, for seven 
months. 

In all my research I am unable to locate with certainty 
these pioneers, to wit, Joseph Belong, Ezra Church, Sylves- 
ter Jargway, Eli Tomlinson, Robert Bisby, Luther Bingham, 
John Hoit and Samuel Buckingham. Eldad K. Curtis, M. 
Hamilton and Harry Train were employees of Mr. Hopkins 
and probably some of the others. 

(Dn the last page of the book I notice Mr. Hopkins gives 
Ashbel Squire credit for fifty-seven pounds of butter delivered 
at diverse times in 1803. According to this, Mr. Squire must 
have gone back to Vermont and got the cow that summer, and 
she must have lived by browsing. 

The account of Mr. Elisha Risdon opens in April, 1805. 
The interesting items in it are as follows : 

April 5, by two days' work on sawmill ..... ^1-67 

December 24, by surveying 

December 24, by cutting forty bass logs 

December 24, by one hundred pounds of venison 

December 24, by paid Kellogg in an axe . . . . . 2.50 

December 24, by seven deerskins . . . . . . 2.00 

March 18, by eighty bushels of ashes . . . . . 4.80 

March 18, by ten bushels of corn . . . . . . 7.50 



4.00 
1. 00 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 



41 



March 18, by fifty-six pounds of butter 
March 18, by thirteen one-half pounds of cheese 
March 18, by five one-half days' work at mill 
April 5, to an order given to Asahel Wright 
April 5, to an order on Jehiel Wright 
April 5, to taps for shoes .... 
April 5, to one hat .... 

April 5, to one pair trousers 



2.25 

2.75 

22.40 

75-27 
.25 

1-75 
1.50 



Interesting and instructive items are contained in other 
accounts. Some of them, besides being interesting, are very 
vakiable in settling points of historical interest. In the ac- 
counts selected I will give the man's name and date his account 
opens only- 

Amasa Blanchard, March 10, 1804. 

To man, horse and expense to Ketchum's after load, less one-quarter 
for mill irons brought me 

To two hundred and fifty fourpenny nails 

To carrying deerskins to Cornwall 

To half bushel of corn 

To loom timber and sawing 

To four hundred feet bass boards, March 30, 
To twelve bushels of potatoes 

Bv thir!-' bushels of ashes . 
■-, - -iiv ji\rv-:.ix bushels of ashes 



1805 



JS7-07 

.25 

1.25 

•34 
1.00 
2.00 
4.50 



3.00 
3-96 



( 'rAl 



1803. 



55.00 



Shi I. ion, October 22, 

by yoke of oxen ...... 

To sixteen feet of boards for cradle, March 10, 1805 

To sawing nine hundred feet of board, March 10, 1805 

To four pounds eightpenny nails ..... 

To one quart rum, 44c. ; pitcher, 50c. ; half set cups and sau- 
cers, 6zy^c. 

To sugar bowl, 40c. ; milk pot, 10c. ; two plates, 9c. 

To quart bowl, I2i^c. ; nutmeg, I2^c. ; half bushel salt, ^3.50 

AsHBEL Squire, December 23, 1803. ' 

To sawing five times through log for sled runner 
To bank'r handkerchief, $1.12 ; half pound tea, 75 c. 
To half pound pepper, 32c ; half pound allspice, 20c. ; one quart 
rum, 44c. ......... 

To four pounds eightpenny nails ..... 

To three yards cotton cloth, 75c. ; half dozen needles, 6c. 

Joel Goodell, March, 1804. 

To visit and bleed wife, 25c. ; two quarts rum, gl.oo 
To four pint bowls, 80c. ; sugar bowl, 40c. ; five teacups and 
saucers, 5ZC. ........ 



.08 

2-3J 
.92 

1.56 
■59 

3-75 

.62 
1.87 

.96 
.92 
.81 



1.25 
1.72 



42 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 



Eli Squire, April lo, 1804. 

To pasturing horse for your father ..... 

To tobacco, bottom of roll, 63c. ; ten pounds cut nails, $2.40 
To pint mug, 50c. ; one quart rum, 44c. ; one dozen needles, 



S0.34 
3-03 

1.06 



Aaron Warner, March, 1804. 

To cash of Elder Roger, ;g2.oo ; seven yards cotton, $1.75 
To two horses and saddle to Madrid .... 



3-75 



Eliakim Seeley, March 20, 1804. 

To thirty pounds flour, 75c. ; to visit and bleed S., 25c. . i.oo 

To two yoke oxen one day, 75c. ; to forty tenpenny nails, lOC, .85 

To horse to Plattsburg, $2.40 ; to wintering cow, g6.oo . 8.40 

To sawing plank for tannery vat. May 10, 1805 . . . 1.00 

Samuel Eastman, March 27, 1804. 

To five bushels wheat, ^5.00 ; one bushel corn, 62c. ; to twenty- 
five eightpenny nails, 8c. . . . . . . 5- 70 

To four hundred feet boards, ^2.40 ; to two hundred acres land, 

J8500.00 ......... 502.40 

Thomas Remington, April, 1804. 

To quart rum, 44c. ; to five hundred feet bass boards, g 2. 7 5, No- 
vember 17, 1804 . . . . . . . 3- '9 

To almanac, I2i^c. ; to thirty-seven pounds pork, 6c., §2.22 . 2.34 

To half bushel flaxseed, $1.50 ; to three tin basins, 75c. . 2.25 

To toll of four bushels wheat, 60c. ; bushel corn, 6c., July, I 805, .66 

To calico for Agnes, ^3.20 ; one quart rum, 44c. . . . 3-64 

Abraham Sheldon. 

To horse to Stockholm, 34c. ; to I 50 feet bass boards, April 20, 

1805, 84c 1.18 

To almanac, I2i^c. ; to quart bowl, 34c. ; to salt cellar, I2i^c., .59 

Henry McLaughlin, May 8, 1804. 

To bushel wheat, ^i.oo ; to forty-five pounds flour, ;Ji.i3 . ^••3 

To nine hundred and four feet bass boards, 54.52, Mareh 8, 1805, 4-52 

To land to sow flaxseed and ploughing . . . . . 2.25 

Robert Train, June 4, 1804. 

To part of wolf town bounty, g i . 00 ; to five yards muslin, g i . 2 5 , 2.25 

To footing pair boots, ^1.34 ; to skein silk, I2i^c. . . 1.46 

To pair shoes, gi.50; shawl, 87c. ; comb, 25c.; to quarter 

pound tea, 38c. . . . . . . . . 2.00 

William Brush, June 16, 1804. 

To peck Indian meal, 20c. ; to seven pounds bread, 21c. . .41 

To twenty-five tenpenny nails, 7c. ; to two hundred eightpenny 

nails, 50c. ......... .57 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 43 

Reuden Post, June 28, 1804. 

To bringing part of load from No. 4, J 1.00 ; to twenty-two 

pounds flour, 55c. . . . . . . . ^'-SS 

To three quarts seed corn, 12c. ; sawing three sled runners, 50c., .62 

To land to sow flax on, etc., §3. 75 ; to 24 pounds venison, 34c., 4- 09 

To grinding one bushel wheat without toll, April 15, 1806 . .14 

To sawing loom timber, 45c. ; to one-half pound snufF, 25c. . .70 

To paper of pins, 25c. ; to half pound ginger, 34c. ; to half 

pound spice, 40c. . . . . . . . .99 

To half bushel salt, $3.50 ; teapot, 56c. ; pint rum, 22c. . 4.28 

By spinning and weaving both wool and linen . > i-97 

Phineas Durfey, March, 1805. 

To balance due for land December 20, i 806, $209.00 ; to eighty 

pounds flour, ;j2.oo . . . . . . .211.00 

By chopping seven acres for Ros. D. Hopkins . 21.31 

Oliver Sheldon, July, 1804. 

To twenty-one pounds nails at 22c. ; to one pound hyson and 

"Kin" tea, ;Jl.50 ....... 1.72 

To balance due for land sold your father. 

To pint mug, 30c. ; three plates, loc. ; half yard muslin, 25c. ; 

one-half gallon rum, 88c. . . . . . . '-53 

Seth Abbott, September 26, 1804. 

To one and one-half bushels spring wheat, ^2.25 ; to pair boot 

legs, $1.00 . . . . . . . . 3.25 

To four white plates, 36c. ; to three skeins white thread, 9c. ; 

dozen "chapel" needles, 12c . . . . . .57 

To fifteen yards cotton cloth, $3.75 ; one pound tea, ^1.50 ; one 

quart rum, 44c. . . . . . . . . 5-69 

Caleb Wright, October 15, 1804. 

To pair boots, $3.50; to cow, $15.00; acknowledge deed, 

62c. ......... 19.12 

Began work for a year October 15, 1804 ; also April i, 1806, 
for seven months for $110. 

These selections from the accounts are all that it is neces- 
sary to give. I have tried to make those that will be of inter- 
est to people in these times. I do not find any charges for 
bread after 1803, though there are a great many for flour. 
Whether Mr. Hopkins baked the bread in town or brought 
it in from Vermont I cannot say. The flour must have been 
imported till some time in 1 804 at least. The price of flour 
seems to have been a shilling per pound and bread ten cents 
a loaf in 1803. In 1805 flour went down to two and one-half 
cents per pound. There are charges for rum in nearly every 
account, and in some of them it occurs pretty often. 



44 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

The so-called history of the county, published in 1878, 
states that Samuel Eastman came into town in 1808, as that 
is the date of his deed. It will be noticed that he was in town 
four years at least prior to that date and buying provisions for 
his family as early as March, 1 804. 

In the account of Eliakim Seeley is a charge for sawing 
plank for tannery vats in May, 1805. He lived on the west 
side of the road, about halfway from Chittenden's store to the 
cemetery, where Arthur Flanders does now. His tannery was 
on the rear end of his lot and on the east bank of Lyd Brook. 
The vat holes in the ground and circular track made by the 
horse in grinding bark may still be seen. 

On a fly leaf I find that Mr. Hopkins purchased of the 
settlers in March, 1806, at least five hundred and sixty-two 
bushels of field ashes at six cents and three hundred bushels 
of house ashes at twelve and one-half cents. From this it is 
evident that Mr. Hopkins opened a black salts manufactory at 
an early date, but I am unable to state where it stood. That 
there were a few other men than those named in this old book 
who came into town in those first years is not only probable 
but altogether likely. In all probability there were some who 
did not open an account with him. Mr. Risdon came in Feb- 
ruary, 1804, but his account did not open till April, 1805. 
The name of Thaddeus McLaughlin does not appear, yet it 
is known that he came with his father, Henry, in 1804. 

It is gratifying indeed that this old book has escaped the 
ravages of time, since it enables us to now tell with consider- 
able certainty who were the earliest pioneers of the town and 
approximately when they came. But few of their descendants 
have known or could learn when their grandfathers or great- 
grandfathers actually came. Many of them have made con- 
siderable effort to ascertain the time, but with very poor suc- 
cess. This old book comes to their rescue and quite authori- 
tatively. 

These, with a few others whose names are lost, were the 
very first pioneers of the town, the fathers and, with their wives, 
the mothers, grandfathers and grandmothers and great-grand- 
fathers and great-grandmothers of the town and of quite a 
good many of its present inhabitants. Others came in 
quite rapidly in succeeding years and built their cabins a 
little farther back on the bush road in the forest and be- 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 45 

came in turn the parent stock. It seems a long, long way 
back to their first coming, and yet there are several children 
of those first settlers still among the living. And though there 
are, what a large percentage has fallen into that wakeless sleep 
which awaits us all ! But a small per cent, I find, of the peo- 
ple born reach a ripe old age. Then, too, the descendants of 
the pioneers have so intermarried that even now it is some- 
what difficult to trace them. Again, very many, feeling the 
pressure of their environment, have, like their grandfathers 
and grandmothers, in turn sought homes elsewhere, principally 
in the West and even In the East whence their parents came. 
And though it does seem a long time, what strides, what 
mighty achievements man has made in that time ! The nine- 
teenth was not alone the greatest century in all history, but, 
I verily believe, greater than all the others combined, in the 
arts, sciences, inventions, discoveries In all fields, advance and 
improvement in all the walks of life and living. Early in 
that century man seems to have found at last many of the 
keys to nature and her unlocked forces. 

A Retrospect — Some of the Things that have been done in the 
past Hundred Years. 

Let us for a moment retrospect In a view of just a few of 
the marvellous things that have been done, secured and accom- 
plished since those pioneers crept into Ishngton by a line of 
marked trees. In the very year 1803 that they came in, 
Robert Fulton was flitting about with a very small steam- 
boat on the Seine River In the city of Paris and trying to 
interest Napoleon Bonaparte in the utilization of a new force, 
a boat propelled by steam, one that would move against both 
wind and tide. Bonaparte became much interested, as he 
wished a boat with which to beat the English, but, as ill luck 
would have It, the boiler and engine a few days before he was 
to exhibit them to Bonaparte by their weight sank through 
the bottom of the boat into the river. This not alone dis- 
heartened him for the time, but Bonaparte also. However, 
he kept at work and In 1 807 steamed up the Hudson River with 
his new boat the " Clermont," to Troy in thirty hours. Prior 
to this it took ten or twelve days by sail. See the leviathans 
we have now, forty rods In length, carrying boilers and 



46 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

engines developing thirty-five thousand horse power and with 
a tonnage of seventeen thousand tons, or in other words the 
load of a freight train eight miles in length with twenty tons 
to the car. Just think of it! I doubt very much if there be 
more power used in all the shops and factories of St. Law- 
rence County, steam and water combined, than is on one of 
these boats. 

Then they used the packet boat and stagecoach. Now we 
use the bicycle and automobile, the steam and trolley cars, 
and can cross the continent in a palace of a car, eating as we 
speed, in six days. 

Then they used a dip in a frying pan or at best a tallow 
candle for lighting their homes, and this as late as 1 860. Now 
we use kerosene, gas, acetylene and even in our small villages 
the magnificent electric light. 

Then they cooked in pots, pans and kettles held by hand 
or hung by a crook or crane over an open fire. The picture 
given of the old fireplace is that of a very good one, 
much more substantial than most of them. It was in the 
Laughlin Hotel and used for a great many years. I was very 
fortunate in securing it, since it was torn down the following 
day by the new owner, Silas H. Sanford. Had I not got it 
I know not where one could be obtained. The place at the 
right with door was the bake oven. In this they built a 
fire with well split wood, heating its walls to a proper heat, 
determined by the matron's hand. When heated the fire and 
ashes were removed, when the baking proceeded. At the left 
is the boiler arch. The cookstove did not come into town 
till some thirty years after our grandparents. 

Then the garments they wore were made from flax, tow 
and wool raised and grown by themselves, dressed, hackled, 
carded, spun and woven into cloth in the l\and loom in the 
house by the mothers and daughters. Much of it made 
rather coarse and harsh cloth for garments, and yet many of 
the women became very proficient, making tasty and even 
fine linen and woolen cloth for women's wear and for house- 
hold uses. 

The flax fields have long since gone, as also the flax brake, 
wheel and loom. Now and then in the parlors of our modern 
homes may be found the flax spinning wheel at which the 




riREPLACE, BAKE OVEN, ETC., IN LAUGH LIN HOTEL. 
Bitilt in Hopkhito7L Village in 18/4. 




PLOW OF SEWALL RAYMOND OF POTSDAM, WITH WOODEN MOULD BOARD. 




.r^ 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. - 47 

grandmother or great-grandmother sat for weary months and 
years, kept as a highly prized memento of bygone times. 

Tlie water wheel they used was the crude old overshot 
wheel with the water falling into chutes from the top and carry- 
ing the wheel round by its weight. Then they advanced to 
an upright shaft with plank arms mortised into it or nailed on to 
it for the water to strike, inclosed in a box. The next step 
was the iron wheel, and now a bronze, developing as they are 
doing at Niagara Falls five thousand horse power per single 
wheel. 

They used a flint and tinder box for making a fire. 
Matches were not made till 1829, and did not reach Hopkin- 
ton for some years later. 

They used quills for pens. Steel pens did not appear till 
about 1 820, and as they cost then $^6 per gross, that is twenty- 
five cents each, they displaced the quill rather slowly. 

They used the scythe and sickle. Their farming tools 
were few in number and crude in form and make. The hoe 
had an eye directly over the blade. The drag was in form of the 
letter V, and in the first years wooden teeth were used. The 
plough at first was all of wood, even the mould-board, except- 
ing the iron point and strips of iron sheathing on the mould- 
board. The picture which I am able to give is that of the 
plough of Sewall Raymond, which his grandson, Will S. Ray- 
mond of Potsdam, permitted me to photograph. The iron 
strips on the wooden mould-board show faintly. The cradle 
did not come along for some little time, and the mowing ma- 
chine not till 1855 to i860, and the reaper some twenty years 
later. Dr. J. A. Sheldon claims the credit for buying the first 
mowing machine in town in 1857. 

They thrashed their grain, at least corn, by driving oxen 
or cows over it spread out on a barn floor, then with a flail, 
and then with a crude horse power machine and of late years 
with steam power. 

Then they wrote their letters and folded the sheet into 
envelope form and sealed it with wax and did as late as about 
1850. The envelope now in use was not made till 1839. 
The postage paid then would now be regarded as ruinous and 
would cut down letter writing one half or more. It was then 
paid according to distance, ranging from five to thirty cents. 
The letter of to-day travels fifteen to twenty times as fast as 



48 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

it did then. They knew no such thing as the telegraph and 
telephone. Now in our evening papers we read all the impor- 
tant items of news that happened that day in all Christendom. 

Then they did all their sewing with the needle. Now 
the sewing machine Is in almost every home. 

Then they gave people calomel for almost every ailment, 
and bled them to death when that failed to cure. And so I 
might go on enumerating articles and things which have come 
into use of which those pioneers knew nothing on their coming 
and of the great improvement in the few articles of use which 
they did know, at great length, but I have said sufficient to 
call the reader's attention to the primitive condition of our 
grandfathers, and that is all I wished to do. 

And now after the lapse of very nearly one hundred years 
since their coming, the only children of these men now living 
so far as I can ascertain are the following, all of whom were 
born some years later ; to wit, William Dewey, son of Jared, 
born August 24, 18 10, Western Minnesota; Joseph B. Dur- 
fey, son of Phineas, born November 25, 181 1, Parishville, 
N. Y. ; Mrs. Lucetta Peck, daughter of Seth Abbott, born 
February 3, 18 14, Potsdam, N. Y. ; Mrs. Jane E. Wood, 
daughter of Eliphalet Brush, born in 18 17, Potsdam, N. Y. ; 
and her sister, Mrs. Lucretia Pomroy, born in 1826, St. Paul, 
Minn. ; Mrs. Abigail Alice Flummerfelt, daughter of Joseph 
Durfey, born October 14, 1824, Grand Rapids, Mich. ; George 
S. Wright, son of Caleb, born in 1824, Hopkinton, N. Y. ; 
Loretta Emmons, daughter of Amasa Blanchard, Jr., born 
February 8, 1832. Among these perhaps I should name Mrs. 
Harriett Adsit, born September 20, 1820, Perry, Ohio, daugh- 
ter of Samuel B. Abbott, who came in with his father, Seth 
Abbott. I have been unable to learn of any others. 



CHAPTER V. 

The Organization of the Town of Hopkinton — What Part of 
Lawrence it took — The First Town Meeting; held March 4, 
J 806 — Roswell Hopkins appointed Justice in 1805 by Gov- 
ernor Clinton — A Bounty on Wolves — Laying out Roads 
— Partnership of Roswell and Benjamin W. Hopkins — 
Electoral Census of J 807. 

The town having, as we have learned, quite a population 
in and about Hopkinton village late in the year 1804, the 
people greatly felt the need of a legal organization as a 
town, with the usual powers and authority given to the peo- 
ple of a town under the law. Accordingly due notice was 
given to every qualified inhabitant of Islington, Catharineville 
and Chesterfield that a meeting would be held on the twenty- 
first day of January, 1 805, for the purpose of taking steps to 
secure the organization. The meeting was held agreeably to 
such notice, but I am unable to state where it was held. 
The following is a copy of the minutes of the meeting : 

At a meeting of the inhabitants of the towns of Islington, Catharineville 
and Chesterfield in the second Great Tract in Macomb's Purchase on the twenty 
first day of January, A. D. 1805, duly warned for the purpose. 

Voted unanimously that a petition be preferred to the Honorable the 
Legislature of the state of New York praying that the said towns of Islington, 
Catharineville and Chesterfield in the second Great Tract of Macomb's Purchase 
may be incorporated into a town and the inhabitants to have equal town privi- 
leges with the inhabitants of other towns in the state and that the remainder of 
said second tract be annexed to said town for the time being. 

Also, voted unanimously that a petition be preferred as aforesaid praying 
that said second Great Tract may be formed into a distinct county or district 
and to be so far organized as that a register or clerk may be appointed in said 
district for the purpose of recording conveyances and incumbrances on lands 
and real property in said tract. 

Also, voted unanimously that a petition be preferred to the Honorable the 
Council of Appointments to appoint two justices of the peace of said town. 



so 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 



Also, voted unanimously that Rosvvell Hopkins, Esq., be appointed an 
agent to prefer said petitions in the name and behalf of the inhabitants of said 
towns, and that he be requested to recommend to the Honorable Council of 
Appointments, Henry McLaughlin and Amasa Blanchard as suitable persons for 
the office of justice of the peace. 

A true copy of the proceedings of said meeting. 

Attest : B. W. Hopkins, Moderator. 

William Brush, Clerk. 

The foregoing minutes are on file in the archives of the 
Legislature. The petition which it was voted to " prefer," if 
ever preferred, cannot be found. Very likely Mr. Hopkins 
thought the official minutes sufficient and proceeded to Al- 
bany with these alone. To go to Albany then, especially in 
the winter time, must have been by way of Plattsburg to Ver- 
mont and thence down that state to Albany, quite a circui- 
tous and lengthy route. At any rate active steps must have 
been taken since on the second day of March, 1805, the cov- 
eted Act creating the town was passed. It is as follows : 

Chapter XXIV. 
An Act forming a new town by the name of Hopkinton. Passed March 
2, 1805. 

I. Be it enacted by the people of the state of New York, represented in 
Senate and Assembly, that from and after the first day of March next the 
towns called Islington and Catharineville, and that part of Chesterfield in the 
second Great Tract in Macomb's Purchase, which was annexed to the town of 
Massena, in the county of St. Lawrence, be and the same are hereby formed 
into a town by the name of Hopkinton, and that the first town meeting in said 
town be holden at the dwelling house of Eliakim Seeley in said town. 

II. And be it ftirther enacted. That all the remaining part of said second 
Great Tract in Macomb's Purchase lying without the original bounds of the 
town of Massena shall be and the same is hereby annexed to the said town of 
Hopkinton. 

III. And be it fijrther enacted. That the said town of Hopkinton shall 
hereafter be considered as a part of the county of St. Lawrence. 

It will be noticed that the Act by its first provision incor- 
porates Islington, Catharineville and " that part of Chesterfield 
which was annexed to Massena' into the new town. It troubled 
me for some time to determine what that part of Chesterfield 
was that came into the new town. I got the incorporating 
acts of Massena, Hopkinton, Brasher and Lawrence when I 
was, as I believe, enabled to definitely state where the north 
line of Hopkinton ran through Chesterfield. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 51 

In an Act passed March 3, 1802, all that tract of land 
lying between the northerly bounds of Jefferson County from 
the division line in the St. Lawrence River, inland to a point 
at or near the southwest corner of Cambray (Gouverneur), 
thence northeasterly along the rear (southerly) line of Cambray, 
Dekalb, Canton, Potsdam, Stockholm and this line continued 
across Chesterfield to Franklin county line ; thence northerly 
on this line to the Canada line in St. Lawrence River (except- 
ing St. Regis Reservation), and thence up the boundary line in 
the St. Lawrence River to place of beginning was incorporated 
into and made the county of St. Lawrence. That was the 
original county of St. Lawrence, and, as will be noticed, is but a 
small part of the present county. All that part of the county 
lying west of Lisbon and Canton by the same Act was made 
the town of Oswegatchie ; Lisbon and Canton were consoli- 
dated into the town of Lisbon ; Madrid and Potsdam into 
one town by the name of Madrid, and the rest of the county, 
Stockholm, Louisville, Brasher, Massena and that part of 
Chesterfield lying north of the above stated Hne into the 
town of Massena. 

By the ninth provision of said Act all the residue of the 
present county of St. Lawrence was to be considered a part of 
Massena " until further legislative provision," taking in all the 
southerly half of the county. 

The petition for the creation of the county of St. Lawrence 
was signed by some four hundred and fifty residents of the 
famous ten towns, to wit, Hague (Morristown), Cambray 
(Gouverneur), Oswegatchie, Dekalb, Lisbon, Canton, Madrid 
(then including Waddington), Potsdam, Louisville and Stock- 
holm. They were called the " ten towns," though I do not 
find they were so organized by legal enactment. In 1801 
these ten towns were by Act formed into one town by the 
name of Lisbon and annexed to the county of Clinton. The 
village of Plattsburg was one hundred and thirty miles distant, 
where courts were held and all official work done. The roads 
were very poor and some of the way only a trail. Against this 
hardship they petitioned for a home county with the result 
already stated. 

The town of Brasher was taken from Massena by Act 
passed April 21, 1825. 



52 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

The town of Lawrence was erected as it now exists or prac- 
tically so from Massena, taking all that part of Chesterfield 
which Hopkinton took in 1805 and that part of Islington ly- 
ing north of the river and east of Nicholville, leaving in Hop- 
kinton the flatiron parcel north of the road just south of its 
cemetery grounds extended due east to the river just below 
Nicholville and north to the St. Regis River. 

Now, as to that part of Chesterfield taken by Hopkinton, 
it will be noticed in the Act creating Hopkinton that it took 
that part of Chesterfield which was annexed to Massena. All 
north of the southerly line of Stockholm extended northeast- 
erly across Chesterfield to Franklin County was, with other 
lands, made the original town of Massena. By a subsequent 
provision in the same Act the south part of the county includ- 
ing of course that part of Chesterfield southerly of the above 
line was annexed to Massena. Therefore what Hopkinton 
took of Chesterfield was what lay southerly of the Stockholm 
line, extended northeasterly across Chesterfield. Applying 
the rule to the southerly bounds of Stockholm carries the line 
about a mile southerly of the village of Lawrenceville to which 
Hopkinton extended on the north from 1805 to 1828. By 
the second provision of the Act creating Hopkinton all the 
remaining part of said second Great Tract (Riversdale, Kil- 
dare, Piercefield, Parishville, Wick, Colton, Pierrepont) lying 
without the original bounds of Massena was annexed to Hop- 
kinton, making it a town of prodigious size. 

Record of the First Town Meeting. 

As we have seen, the town of Hopkinton was created by an 
Act of the Legislature passed March 2, 1 805, but no steps were 
taken under the Act to elect officials till March, 1806. In the 
petition for the erection of the town the people asked that 
Henry McLaughlin and Amasa Blanchard_be appointed 
justices of the peace, but, for some reason, this was not done. 
Instead, the Council of Appointments named Roswell Hop- 
kins, Esq., the first and sole justice of the town, his commis- 
sion being signed by George Clinton, Governor of the state. 

In those early times either political bosses at Albany 
wished to make " political capital " out of naming the justices 
over the state or else they thought that the people of the sev- 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 53 

eral towns were unfit or incompetent to name their own jus- 
tices. This condition of things continued down to about 1 832, 
when this right was given to the people. 

The first town meeting was held in the house of Eliakim 
Seeley about eighty rods north of Chittenden's store, where 
Arthur Flanders now resides. It was a log house and no 
doubt selected on account of its size or central location. 

The minutes of the first town meeting entire as entered in 
the records of the town are as follows : 

State of New York, ) 
St. Lawrence County, ( 

Hopkinton, 4th March, A. D. 1 806. At the first town meeting began and 
held in and for the town of Hopkinton at the dwelling house of Eliakim Seeley 
pursuant to an Act of the Legislature of this state passed Anno Domini 1805, 
Roswell Hopkins, Esq. , justice of the peace in and for the county of St. Law- 
rence aforesaid, in the chair. 

Voted, I. — Roswell Hopkins, Esq., Supervisor. 

Voted, 2. — Henry McLaughhn, Esq., Town Clerk. 

Voted, 3. — Amasa Blanchard, Esq., Jasper Armstrong, Esq., Reuben Post, 
Esq., Assessors. 

Voted, 4. — Amasa Blanchard, Esq., Seth Abbott, Overseers of Poor. 

Voted, 5. — Abraham Sheldon, Collector. 

Voted, 6. — Abraham Sheldon, Reuben Post, Henry McLaughlin, Esq., 
Commissioners of Highways. 

Voted, 7. — Abraham Sheldon, Constable. 

Voted, 8. — Eli Squire, Oliver Sheldon, Amasa Blanchard, Fence Viewers. 

Voted, 9. — Oliver Sheldon, Pound Keeper. 

Voted, 10. — Henry McLaughlin, Overseer Highways for the eastern 
district. 

Voted, II. — Eli Squire, Overseer Highways, western district. 

Voted, 12. — Amasa Blanchard, Henry McLaughlin, Roswell Hopkins, 
Esqrs., to say what shall be deemed a lawful fence in said town of Hopkinton 
and to say what creatures may run at large and under what restrictions, and make 
report to the next annual March meeting. 

Voted, I 3. — Unanimously that a bounty of two dollars be paid for each and 
every full grown wolP spate and one dollar for each whelp's for the year ensuing. 

Voted, 14. — That the Commissioners of Highways petition the Board of 
Supervisors to assess a tax of two hundred and fifty dollars to defray the expense 
of making and repairing the roads in the town of Hopkinton and that the said 
Commissioners be and are hereby empowered to agree with some suitable person 
or persons to cut a highway through said town under the immediate instructions 
and inspection of said Commissioners, the expense to be defrayed out of the 
avails of the aforesaid tax, if granted, when collected. 

Voted, 15. — That the town meetings in future shall be held at the dwell- 
ing house of Henry McLaughlin, Esq., in said town of Hopkinton. 

Attest : Henry McLaughlin, Town Clerk. 



54 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

This record is not only interesting as being the first offi- 
cial action by the people as a town organization, but for sev- 
eral other reasons. The people had now been settling in and 
about Islington for three years and there was a very respecta- 
ble forest population. Quite a good many holes in the forest 
had been cut for homes and farms, and all as a community or 
one big family. There was no organization, no officials, save 
Roswell Hopkins, who was appointed justice in 1805, and no 
power rested in any one to lay out roads, levy taxes, build 
schoolhouses, or to compel compliance with official action. 
Why so many positions were given to Amasa Blanchard and 
Abraham Sheldon I do not quite understand. Perhaps they 
were good politicians or perhaps they were more competent or 
had more leisure time to give to public matters. At any rate 
we know there were quite a good many men then in the town 
who got no position at all. 

The road from Lyd Brook east to Chittenden's store 
(west end of Mechanic Lot No. 8) thence north to the Wil- 
liam S. Phelps place and thence west and northwest to Gaius 
Sheldon's place was officially run by the Commissioners with 
B. W. Hopkins, surveyor, March 18, 1806. 

A road was laid due west from said Mechanic Lot one 
hundred and eighty-six rods, thence north eighty-two degrees 
west four hundred and forty-five rods and thence west seven 
hundred and eighty rods. This is the present " Potsdam 
road " and extended westerly nearly four and one-half miles 
to the present west bounds of the town. The people had 
settled along these roads prior to this, no doubt under a 
promise by Mr. Hopkins that the roads would so be laid out. 

Partnership of Roswell and Benjamin W. Hopkins. 

As early as April, 1806, Mr. Roswell Hopkins found it 
necessary, or at least best, to take his son, B. W. Hopkins, 
into partnership. He was then only twenty-three years of 
age, and seems to have been a bright, capable business young 
man, well liked by the people, as we learn from Mr. Risdon's 
diary, and very active. He was his father's fiscal agent, going 
to Utica, Burlington and other places to negotiate loans, pro- 
cure extensions of payment, etc., as is shown by letters still in 
Mr. Isaac R. Hopkins's hands. He went to Havana, Cuba, 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 55 

in 1 8 19, but for what purpose I do not know. Very unfor- 
tunately for his father and all concerned he was taken with the 
yellow fever and died. 

It may seem a little improper to give a private paper to 
the public, but as it contains so many items which go to eluci- 
date the early history of the town, surely I am justified in 
doing so. The partnership agreement between them is as 
follows : 

Articles of Agreement between Roswell Hopkins, Esg., and his son 
Benjamin W. Hopkins, made April twenty-third, 1806. 

Article l . — Roswell Hopkins agrees to put into stock all his horses, cattle, 
sheep, hogs, farming tools, etc., except household furniture ; also all sums of 
money, debts, dues, mortgages, bonds, etc., now due to him ; also all the lands 
and real property he now owns in the township of Islington in the town of 
Hopkinton, except his farm lying on the west side of the mill brook ; also the 
sawmill in the said township with the privilege of land sufficient for pond, mill 
yard, etc. ; also all the agencies of land in the counties of St. Lawrence and 
Clinton ; also all contracts for surveying and clearing and making roads, bridges, 
etc. ; also all the improvements and uses of his farm and gristmill in said town 
of Hopkinton for the term mentioned in the fifth article of this agreement. 

Article z. — Benjamin W. Hopkins agrees in consideration of the above 
advances to put into stock all his property, except household fiirniture (except as 
hereinafter provided) and to give up his time wholly to the concern. 

Article 3. — All debts now due from either of the firm or which may here- 
after be contracted by the concern are to be paid by the concern. 

Article 4. — As soon as the debts now due from Roswell Hopkins are paid 
the said Roswell agrees to execute a good authentic deed to the said Benjamin 
W. Hopkins of what is called and known by his, the said Benjamin W.'s, farm 
lying in Catharineville in said town of Hopkinton and the said Benjamin W. is 
also to receive a deed of the remainder part of what is called his, the said Ben- 
jamin W.'s, farm, lying in Chesterfield when the same is 'paid for. The said 
Benjamin W. agrees to execute a deed to the said Roswell when he procures .a 
deed as aforesaid, of a sufficient quantity of the land in Chesterfield so as to in- 
clude the gristmill and the privileges of the water ponds, dams, etc., which may 
or shall be necessary for the accommodation of said gristmill. It is however 
agreed that the use and improvement of the said farm and gristmill shall belong 
to the concern during the continuance of the firm. 

Article 5. — It is agreed that the concern or firm shall be known by the 
name of «• Ros. Hopkins & Son" and to continue for the term of eight years 
from the date hereof unless sooner dissolved by death or mutual consent. 

Article 6. —It is agreed that each of the parties shall be at their equal ex- 
pense and trouble in boarding men to be employed by the firm. 

Article 7. — It is agreed that each party is to receive of the concern all the 
necessaries, expenses and supphes for the support of their families respectively as 
may be wanted and accounts to be accurately kept of the amount, quantity, 
sums, etc., received by each, except when an equal division of any article is 
mutually agreed on and received by each. 



56 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Article 8. — It is agreed that on the dissolution of the concern or firm that 
after the debts now due from the said Roswell Hopkins and Benjamin W. Hop- 
kins and all debts contracted by the firm are paid that an equal division of the 
remainder shall be made to each of the parties. 

The farm of the said Benjamin W. Hopkins mentioned in the fourth article, 
if the debts are paid and a sufficient sum belonging to the firm remains to pay the 
debts, is not to be reckoned in the division, but to be exclusively the property of 
the said Benjamin W. Hopkins. 

Article 9. — It is agreed that the title of lands now vested in the said Ros- 
well Hopkins whirh is put into stock in the first article shall continue in the 
said Roswell for the benefit of the concern and when any shall be sold by the 
company or firm the said Roswell agrees to execute a deed or deeds and at the 
expiration of the firm to execute a deed of an equal share to the said Benjamin 
W. Hopkins which may remain unsold, and also to assign over an equal share of 
all bonds, mortgages, etc., which may be taken in his name and which may be- 
long to the company at their dissoludon. 

Article 10. — It is hereby expressly agreed that if either of the parties 
should decease before the expiration of the time agreed on for the dissolution of 
the firm that the firm thereafter shall be dissolved and that the survivor shall have 
foil power and is hereby expressly empowered to collect all debts due and de- 
mands of the company and to pay all debts due from the company and to ac- 
count for an equal moiety of the net profits of the surplus to the heirs, executors 
or administrators of the deceased and that an equal dividend shall be made of the 
other property belonging to the firm alter the debts are paid by and between the 
survivors and heirs, executors and administrators of the deceased. 

Ros. Hopkins. [l. s.] 
Witness : B. W. Hopkins, [l. s.] 

Thads. Laughlin. , 

Jonas Harwood. 

This paper, as will be noticed, is very well constructed. 
It compares favorably with the average work of the attorney 
of the present time. I judge from the writing of the sig- 
natures and the text that it was drawn by Benjamin W. Hop- 
kins. It is evident from a close reading of the paper that the 
sawmill and Its pond were wholly in Islington, that is, south 
of the bridge near the cemetery, and also that the gristmill, 
its dam and at least part of its pond were in Chesterfield, that 
is, just north of said bridge. I am a little surprised to learn 
that he had sheep at so early a date. 

John Leach, who was told by his grandfather, Joel Good- 
ell, tells me that the gristmill and its dam stood north of the 
road, that there came a freshet soon after it was built, within 
a few years at least, which washed out a portion of the under- 
pinning of the mill and it came very near toppling over into 
the stream. The people took hold and righted it up again. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 



57 



Mrs. L. D. Atwood, born close by, remembers playing when 
a child on the remnants of this dam about two rods north of 
the road. 

Electoral Census of J 807. 

An electoral census of the town was taken in 1 807 by 
Henry McLaughlin which is on file in the State Library at 
Albany. There was then a graded property qualification for 
voting. If worth a hundred pounds in freehold they could 
vote for all the higher officials. If not, then only for the 
minor officers. The following is the report of Mr. Mc- 
Laughlin : 



Abbott, Seth. 
Armstrong, Jasper. 
Allen, Elisha. 
Buckingham, Ephraim. 
Blanchard, Aniasa. 
Blanchard, Amasa, Jr. 
Brush, William. 
Brush, Eliphalet. 
Chandler, Abijah. 
Durf'ey, Phineas. 
Dewey, Jared. 
Eastman, Samuel. 
Fuller, Gibbs. 
Greene, Job. 
Goodcll, Samuel. 
Goodell, Joel. 



Hopkins, Roswell. 
Hopkins, Benjamin W. 
Harris, Samuel. 
Harwood, Jonas. 
Hoit, John. 
Langworthy, Stephen. 
McLaughlin, Henry. 
Martin, Ephraim. 
Martin, Andrew. 
Post, Reuben. 
Pierce, Jonathan 
Pierce, James. 
Roburds, Eli. 
Risdon, Elisha. 
Rudd, Nathaniel. 
Remington, Thomas. 



Saunders, Avery. 
Sheldon, Abraham. 
Sheldon, Oliver. 
Sheldon, Naam. 
Sheldon, Gains. 
Sanders, James 
Sanders, Jonathan. 
Squire, Eh. 
Squire, Ashbel. 
Stewart, Chancey A. 
Seeley, Eliakim. 
Train, Robert. 
Train, Horace. 
Thomas, John. 
Warner, Aaron. 
Wright, Caleb. 



As appears by this report there were forty-four qualified 
voters in the town, including eight or so in Chesterfield. All 
the foregoing "heads of families " were put down as owning a 
freehold of the value of one hundred pounds, excepting Eph- 
raim Buckingham, John Hoit, Nathaniel Rudd and Thomas 
Remington, the value of whose freeholds was placed at twenty 
pounds and under one hundred each. None of them were 
classed as having leaseholds of the rental value of forty shil- 
lings. 

Of the foregoing names I am unable to place Gibbs Ful- 
ler, Naam Sheldon, Robert Train and Chancey A. Stewart. 
It seems they held freeholds, but I fail to find them in IsHng- 
ton or Catharineville. From this it appears that Job Greene 
was an elector in town in 1807. A Mr. Job Greene took 



58 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

title to forty-four acres north across the road from the Harmon 
Risdon place in 1806. The grandfather of Henry C. Greene, 
who lived where Loren Smith does, was Job Greene, but it 
seems hardly possible that a man so old as he must have been 
should go out there in the woods to live. However, it seems 
he did or at least lived in town and owned the tract next west 
of Reuben Post. Mr. Risdon in his " Hunting Article " says 
there were no settlers west of Hopkinton on the Turnpike in 
1809, and yet it is morally certain that David French and prob- 
ably Job Greene had a shanty just off the Turnpike on the 
" Sanford road." It is possible and even likely that they were 
clearing land and living alone. I do not learn that there were 
ever any buildings on either French's or Greene's tracts. John 
Hoit is put down as a freeholder, but I am unable to place 
him. He afterwards moved into Parishville. Messrs. Allen, 
Chandler, Harris, the Martins, Pierces and Saunders resided in 
what is now Lawrence. 

I miss from this list of electors Asahel Wright, Joseph 
Durfey, David French, Joseph Brush and David Covey. 

Mr. Wright sold his betterments to Elisha Risdon in 
1805. He and Mr. French moved through the woods to 
West Potsdam, where each made a good record. Mr. Brush 
evidently did not come into town until 1808, or at least did 
not become a freeholder till then. And the same is probably 
true of Mr. Covey. 

Stephen Langworthy was the first doctor in the town. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Interesting Essays and Letters by Mr. Risdon, giving: most Valu- 
able Information as to Early Life and Experiences in Town — 
His Great Fondness for Hunting — Cleared the Present Ceme- 
tery Grounds in J 806. 

In this chapter are given all the letters and writings of 
Mr. Risdon which can now be found bearing on the subject 
of the town's early history. As they were written by an actor 
in those times and strnggles, they are authoritative and there- 
fore doubly valuable. One of the first of these articles in 
point of time is a vivid account of his experience hunting the 
deer in 1 805, which is as follows : 

In the fall of the year 1805 I bought a rifle of B. W. Hopkins, for which 
I agreed and promised the next season to cut down the timber on thirteen acres 
where the burying ground now is and west of it. It was the first rifle I ever 
owned. Notwithstanding my ill success in shooting deer, I supposed with my 
new rifle I should seldom fail of killing, for I could hit the mark with it and kill 
a hawk fifty yards distant. There was no old hunter that killed his sixty to one 
hundred deer in a season that had made greater preparations for hunting. I had 
a pouch for my belt, with the best of powder and lead. I had flints, in fact 
every hunting apparatus. I think it was in the latter part of October there came 
a good hunting snow for which I had been anxiously looking. I was up in the 
morning before there was any hght, casting balls and cleaning my gun, and, as 
soon as I could see, was off, supposing that deer frequented the same ground in 
all weather and seasons. I went through the back fields and into the hard tim- 
bered wood and travelled around for two or three hours very fast, expecting every 
minute to see a deer. I did not see even a track of one, and returned to the 
house woefully disappointed. Judge Hopkins observed I was wrong to think of 
finding deer in the hard timber in such a storm as we were then having, that they 
had gathered into the swamps and thickets, and that if I would go into the swamp 
below the mill probably I should find some. So assured, I went with new cour- 
age. The trees were heavily loaded with snow, and it continued to snow lightly. 
As I was entering the swamp I discovered the track of a deer, the first I had 
seen. I followed along on the trail into an ash swail near by, where I saw him 
first. I fired away and had the good luck to kill him. He was a large buck, the 
first I ever killed with horns. I was highly pleased, went immediately to the 
house and reported. There were several people there from Vermont looking for 



6o EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

land. They all went down and assisted in drawing the deer up. As for my- 
self, I could not attend to him, must be off hunting the deer, for I expected to 
kill several more by night. I killed no more, however, that day. I must ob- 
serve here that I then did not understand hunting the deer. I did not under- 
stand their natures. All those I had killed, now and then one, I made sorry busi- 
ness of it. — Elisha Risdon. 

It is apparent from the foregoing essay that Mr. Risdon 
was working for Mr. Hopkins in 1805, as no doubt he did till 
September, 1807, when he went to his parents at Richmond, 
N. Y., where he remained two years. It is evident, too, that 
Mr. Hopkins's house was headquarters for the settlement and 
a lively place. Where his house stood cannot now be deter- 
mined with certainty. It must have been up in the village 
or nearly so, since Mr. Risdon states in a later article that It 
was a mile and a quarter from the house to the ford. The 
present John A. Harran residence is a frame building and 
may have been built as early as March, 1805, since we know 
his sawmill was in operation at least as early as that date, but 
this would conflict with Dr. Hough, who states that Abraham 
Sheldon built the first framed house in 1809. The Sheals 
house is a very old one, but that, too, is framed. Estimating 
by the map, the Harran house fits the distance very well. 
Somehow 1 feel that the house in question stood near the old 
burying ground, which was back of the Dr. Sprague place. 

ROADS AND BRIDGES IN 1805 — BUILDING FIRST BRIDGE 
OVER DEER RIVER IN LAWRENCEVILLE — THE MEN 
WHO BUILT IT— -THE FORD OF THE ST. REGIS JUST 
ABOVE FORT JACKSON. 

One of the most important writings of Mr. Risdon, from 
an historical standpoint, is the letter by him to Phineas Dur- 
fey giving a minute and interesting account of the trials of the 
pioneers in crossing large streams, location of fords and build- 
ing of the first bridges, which fortunately has been preserved. 
The letter verbatim is as follows : 

St. Lawrence County in 1805 was almost an unbroken wilderness, here and 
there an isolated settlement. The main road leading from Plattsburg to the west 
passed through Chateaugay, Malone, Bangor, Moira, Chesterfield (now Law- 
rence) into Stockholm, and so on to the few settlements in the west. From 
Hopkinton there was a road kept open on the westerly side of St. Regis River 
to Stockholm. There was also another road from Hopkinton leading to the 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 6i 

northeast, crossing St. Regis River at the north end of now Jacob Phelps's farm 
and intersecting the main road leading from Malone to Stockholm about half a 
mile west from Deer River. All our roads at that time were bad, almost im- 
passable except in the winter when the rivers and smaller streams, the swamps 
and water holes, were frozen over, for there were no bridges nor causeways, 
people in those days moving into this country with families and loaded teams 
were wholly dependent on a bridge of ice in crossing the streams. 

There was at that time no settlements between Deer River and Stockholm, 
nor but a few beginnings between Deer River and Malone. The ice in the 
rivers broke up earlier this year than what it commonly had. Judge Hopkins 
(then, however, called Esquire Hopkins) received a letter from Dr. Pettibone 
of Stockholm, stating that the ice in Deer River was broken up and that the 
river was impassable for teams, and also that there were then families of women 
and children encamped on the eastern bank with no means of crossing. The 
doctor stated further, " That provided the young men of Hopkinton would 
meet the young men of Stockholm at the river in the morning they would build 
a bridge, and fiirther, that the more dilatory party in coming to the river should 
pay for their backwardness a gallon of rum." 

Judge Hopkins received this letter at about four o'clock in the afternoon. 
He immediately gave notice, and the young men, full of spirit and ambition, met 
at his house at about ten in the evening. There was, however, on the minds 
of some disagreeable sensations, for the ice in the St. Regis River at our ford 
was also broken up, and how far up or down the river we could not then de- 
termine. The river must be crossed and that too either by wa'ding or on horse- 
back, and the question arose which would be the safest and most prudent, but 
was soon determined in favor of the latter. So at about two o'clock in the 
morning we all set out with three horses for the river. There were nine of us 
with each an axe and also a sack on his back containing two days' rations of 
provisions. 

Coming to the St. Regis River we found the water fearfully high and rapid. 
The night was dark. There was neither moon nor starlight, and the shade of 
the tall evergreen forest covering over the roaring flood gave to the scene a fright- 
ful aspect. There appeared to me at this time some hesitation, not that I sup- 
posed that any one would turn back, far from that. As for myself I had had it 
in my mind that I should ford the river by wading, but coming to find the water 
so high and rapid I dared not. I now proposed that I would mount Old Snip, 
as he was called, and attempt to ford the river on horseback, which was assented 
to. Not that I could boast of superior courage, for I certainly had my fears. 
Duty seemed to call upon us to help our fellows, and to turn back without a 
trial to cross the river would not have been consented to. So I was soon on the 
back of Old Snip. He was a powerfol horse and appeared undaunted by the 
tumultuous waters, and with an arched neck and champing of his bits stepped 
boldly in without urging. The other horses soon followed. The river was be- 
tween eighty and one hundred yards over and the bed very stony. The water 
some part of the way mid side to the horses, and of course they walked slowly. 
These noble animals were in the water more than an hour, crossed and recrossed 
the river six times and landed us all safe on our way. 

With hearts of joy and gratitude we felt thankful that those frightful appear- 
ances exhibited on coming to the river were not attended with serious conse- 



62 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

quences. We walked on with a light and lively step, passing merry jokes until 
about daylight, when we came to the conjunction of the roads where we met 
the company from Stockholm. It was hail fellows well met. We stopped 
only to pass a few compliments and walked on together about half a mile to the 
river. The oldest and most experienced in architecture soon made a plan, and 
the next day at noon a good, substantial log bridge was finished, probably the 
first ever built over Deer River. 

The company from Hopkinton on the return home came to St. Regis River 
three hours before the time set for the horses to be sent down for crossing. The 
day was warm and pleasant for the season. We seated ourselves on the bank 
of the river for a while. I cut me a setting pole, fastened my boots and axe in 
my sack and forded the river by wading ; the river had fallen some. There was 
one other of the company who forded at the same time. We reported at the 
house and the horses were sent down and in a short time we were all at home, 
safe and well. I cannot say positively, friend Durfey, as you were an actor in 
this "tragedy," but I have always counted you as one. It would please me 
well to have a correct catalogue of all their names. You well know such scenes 
were familiar to us in those days. There were others who acted equally as bold 
and daring, but will soon be forgotten, for the actors are passing away. Our 
children nor the present community know anything of the trials of their fathers, 
the first settlers. They now travel smooth roads and cross the streams on 
safe bridges. The features of our town as also of the country are greatly 
altered since forty years. The names of that little band of first settlers with all 
their acts will soon sink into oblivion ; even the few survivors have almost become 
strangers. To amuse myself in these pensive days of age and infirmity I have 
written this letter to you, and if it should fail to interest you in any way please 
not impute it to insincerity in your humble servant. — Elisha Risdon. 

To Phineas Durfey, Hopkinton, June 7, 1845. 

Underneath the above letter and on the same sheet, in 
Mr. Risdon's handwriting, is the following memorandum, viz. : 

Of those who assisted in building the bridge Roswell Hopkins, Esq., 
Aaron Warner, Caleb Wright, Horace Train and myself I am satisfied were of 
the number, and I believe that Phineas Durfey, Seth Abbott and Amasa Blanch- 
ard, Jr., then were also : who the ninth was I cannot say. 

This letter was handed to Clarlnda Sanford some years ago 
by Miss Maria Durfey, daughter of Phineas Durfey. Just 
under the above memorandum Mrs. Sanford has added in her 
hand as follows : 

Miss Maria Durfey says her father was one, and that a Mr. Atwater of 
Norfolk was the other. 

The letter is written on foolscap paper, and though actually 
written as late as 1845, it is folded in, making an envelope of 
itself and closed with sealing wax. It is quite important in 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 63 

several respects aside from being interesting, in that it estab- 
lishes certain points in early history, which is very gratifying 
to know. There is now no further uncertainty as to where 
the early settlers forded St. Regis River. After much inquiry 
1 could find no one who could speak with authority as to the 
location of this ford. This makes it certain that it was north 
of the Jacob Phelps — now A. A. Atwood — farm, and a 
hundred rods or more above the village of Fort Jackson. 
From another paper in my hands by Mr. Risdon I find 
that the above bridge over Deer River was built in the fore 
part of March, 1805, and about one hundred rods below the 
present crossing in the village of Lawrenceville. 

THE ARTICLE BY MR. RISDON ON EARLY EXPERIENCES IN 
THE TOWN USED BY DR. HOUGH IN HIS HISTORY OF 
THE COUNTY. 

FrankHn B. Hough in his history of St. Lawrence and 
Franklin counties, published in 1853, quotes an article giving 
the early history of Hopkinton, page 321, from the Northern 
Cabinet of September 3, 1845, which he says "is understood 
to have been written by Elisha Risdon, a pioneer settler and 
surveyor." The full name of this paper was The Northern 
Cabinet and Literary Repository^ a neutral sheet, begun at 
Canton, January 2, 1842, by Charles Boynton, in quarto 
form, semi-monthly. In the course of two years or so it was 
removed to Potsdam and published for a brief period under 
the name of "The Repository, and may be said to be the parent 
of the present Courier and Freeman. All of its issues, as well 
as that of the several papers which succeeded it, were, I 
deeply regret to say, destroyed in the fire of 1859 at Canton. 
By the way, I fear our people too little appreciate how much 
they are indebted to Dr. Hough for this work. It is the 
parent history of the county, and all others are largely taken 
and drawn from it, and some of them are rather poorly done 
at that. Among Mr. Risdon's papers in my hands is the 
very draft of the article quoted by Dr. Hough and in his 
own handwriting. So, if there were any uncertainty in Dr. 
Hough's mind as to the authorship, there certainly need be 
none in ours. The article consists of four pages of foolscap 
and is entitled or headed " Reminiscences." The foregoing 



64 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

letter to Phineas Durfey was written June 7, 1 845, and 
covers quite a portion of the Hough article. The letter to 
the Northern Cabinet was dated September 3, 1845, and is 
these " Reminiscences " in their entirety " dressed up " for pub- 
lication. That portion of them not given in the Durfey letter, 
which was a purely personal one and written to recount and 
revive an exploit of their boyhood days, is given below. 
This and the letter to Mr. Durfey cover the article in 
Hough's history and much of it in identically the same 
language, as may be readily seen by a comparison with that 
article. That part of the " Reminiscences " not given in the 
Durfey letter is as follows : 

REMINISCENCES. 

The bridge (the one spoken of in the letter to Mr. Durfey) was built 
about one hundred rods below Lawrenceville village in the town ot Lawrence. 
From Deer River around by Stockholm to Hopkinton was fifteen miles and a 
bad road. People moving into Hopkinton did prefer coming direct from Deer 
River to Hopkinton, only eight and one-half miles. Squire Hopkins was good to 
newcomers. He kept a boy at the ford on the St. Regis River, one and one- 
fourth miles from his house, to notify him when loaded teams and families came 
to the river. So when they did come the young men would go down with 
two large, strong pair of oxen and heavy ox sled and cross over to them and 
fasten their sleigh with ropes and withes on the top of the sled and in this way 
cross the river. There came one day three loaded sleighs to the river. Four or 
five young men dropped their work and without delay took the oxen down and 
assisted them across. Tell the story to our young men at the present time and 
they will say, " That would be mere sport." Sport indeed to continue in the 
water up to the waist four or five hours in succession in cold winter weather! In 
crossing over the empty sled would float and we had to work with all our might 
to keep the sled regular behind the team. When loaded (for return) to be sure 
the sled ceased to float, but then the load lay high on the sled, was top-heavy 
and liable to turn over. Sometimes one of the runners of the sled would run on 
to a large stone in the bed of the stream. The teamster, often mounted on one 
of his oxen, could not always see to avoid them. We had to work lustily to 
keep the sled upright. One load would be made up of the women and children. 
It seemed to them like going to their graves to cross the river in this way. 
People were coming into the country at that time (1805) quite a little, and 
those coming to Hopkinton, not being acquainted, were disappointed on reaching 
the ford on the St. Regis River to find the difficulty of crossing. It was not 
every one that had nerve enough to walk or even to cross the river on horseback. 
There were instances of travellers returning to the Stockholm road and coming to 
Islington by that route, more than twenty miles around, whereas to cross the 
ford and come on it was only one and a quarter miles. To obviate this difficulty 
as much as possible the settlers of Islington met by previous agreement at the 
river with axes and two or three two-inch augers for the purpose of building a 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 65 

footbridge. We bored four holes into a log of wood nine or ten inches in 
diameter and about four feet in length and in these holes we put legs made of 
sapling poles about five feet in length. We placed these log benches about twelve 
feet apart in direct line across the river and upon them a line plank. So again 
this may be called sport and probably would be in weather when the water was 
warm. But this footbridge was built in April, when the water was still cold and 
the river high. The benches were made of green timber and purposely heavy. 
It was not the feminine boy that could handle and place them, many times up 
to the armpits in the water. Still, it must be allowed that healthy, active young 
people will derive sport from the most severe exercise. We found again after a 
little that it was not every one who possessed nerve sufficient to cross the river 
even on our footbridge. So we bored a hole on the top of each one of the 
benches and put therein a stake about three and a half feet long with a crotch at 
the upper end and in these crotches placed a hand pole. — Elisha Risdon. 

ACCOUNT OF A HUNTING TRIP TO COOKHAM, NOW PAR- 
ISHVILLE, IN 1809 — NO SETTLEMENTS THEN WEST OF 
HOPKINTON VILLAGE— THE TURNPIKE ROAD JUST CUT 
OUT— ALL PARISHVILLE A WILDERNESS— DAVID PAR- 
ISH BOUGHT THE TOWNSHIP IN 1808— DANIEL HOARD 
HAD JUST REACHED THE FALLS WITH A ROAD FROM 
POTSDAM. 

It is very fortunate Indeed that Mr. Amasa Blanchard 
invited Mr. Risdon to join him on a hunting trip to Cook- 
ham, otherwise we would not have the following exceedingly 
interesting account of it, containing as it does several im- 
portant historical items. The story of the trip is as follows : 

In the fall of 1 809, soon after I had returned from the Genesee country 
where I had been absent from Hopkinton two years, I went on a hunting trip 
to Cookham. In the course of these two years the line of the St. Lawrence 
Turnpike road had been run, and the bushes and logs, etc., had been cut and 
cleared away so far as to be conveniently traced and travelled by foot people, as 
far to the west as the town of Russell, and I cannot say but as far as to the 
Black River. There were no settlements on this road at that time west of Hop- 
kinton village until we came to Atwater's Mills in the town of Russell. The 
country was wholly in a state of nature. Some time about the middle of 
November, Amasa Blanchard, Esq., a gentleman practised in deer hunting, pro- 
posed to me that if I were so disposed we would go out on this new road towards 
Cookham for deer hunting. He also proposed voluntarily that I should have my 
share of game caught in companv, which we considered greatly in my favor, as 
he was the most experienced hunter. Being as fond of deer hunting as my 
friend, my propensities for the chase were soon caught. I readily consented to 
go. It was not, however, the profit that I expected to realize that flattered me 
so much as it was the novelty. It was a part of the country I had not explored, 
and naturally fond of wild and romantic scenery I promised myself much pleasure 



66 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

in the hunt. We set off in the morning and travelled along in the path till we 
came to the halfway brook, so called, near Moffit's. [This is the brook crossing 
the Turnpike near the residence of Dyer Hazen.] My friend saw a deer beside 
the path, shot and killed it. We came immediately to the deer, highly pleased 
that success had commenced in our favor so soon. After we had dressed and 
hung the deer up my friend observed that he supposed, according to agreement, 
that one-half of this fine deer would fall to me. He spoke these words with 
such an emphasis, giving me to understand that he was apprehensive he had 
made a losing bargain. I told him I was not obstinate, that I would freely 
exonerate him from any engagement we had entered into relating to the share of 
game, that I had come out merely for amusement. We soon, however, dropped 
the subject and travelled on until we came to a bush shanty built by the road 
cutters near the little brook, crossing the Turnpike on Leonard's land. Here we 
left our sacks and took separate courses for the afternoon hunt. I saw no game. 
My friend had several shots, but caught nothing. 

We returned to the shanty and commenced making preparations for the 
night. The day had been warm and rainy. The wind in the course of the 
night shifted into the northwest and became colder and about two inches of 
snow fell. I had been sick in the summer previous with fever and ague and was 
at this time not wholly free from cold chills, especially if I had taken cold. I 
was so unwell in the morning that I did think of leaving for home, but by the 
kind attention and good nursing I received from my friend I became some better. 
His earnest solicitation also for me to continue with him finally prevailed upon 
me to accompany him that day. I bundled myself in my greatcoat as warm as 
circumstances would admit and we set off for hunnng. I was, however, quite 
unwell. The morning was cold and I felt it. I followed with my head down 
in the rear and in the footsteps of my friend for some time, paying but little or 
no attention to anything. By the exercise of travelling, however, I became 
more comfortable, and towards noon the severe pains in my head and limbs began 
to abate. I began to look about. I saw on a little rise of ground a deer feeding 
and beckoned to my friend to shoot him. He said, " Why don't you shoot 
him yourself? Where is he?" I pointed him to the deer. He said, "We 
will both shoot together." We did so. The deer raised his head and looked 
toward us apparently neither hurt nor frightened. The situation my friend was 
in, ifhe made any movement, the deer would discover him. I stood beside a 
large hemlock where I could load my gun unseen by the deer. My friend 
said to me in a half angry tone, " You load your gun and shoot that deer." I 
was soon loaded, fired and killed him. He was a full, middling buck for size 
and was fat. We drew him down to the path and hung him up. By this 
time I had in a measure recovered my usual spirits. 

We now followed the path to the falls where Parishville now stands. We 
found the scenery here wild, romantic, picturesque and pleasing to a taste like 
mine. The compression of the waters into a narrow gorge, their impetus, foam- 
ing and lashing the rocks in their fall with a deafening roar, and, after their 
seeming fury has abated, passing gently away, were both pleasing and exciting. 
The township then called Cookham was owned by David Parish, Esq. We 
found here a temporary bridge made of poles such as one or two men could 
handle and thrown across the river in the narrowest part, said to have been done 
by Parish's assistants when he was viewing the country a few months before. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 67 

After viewing the place awhile we passed over the river on this bridge and 
ranged about where are now cleared fields and dwellings. 

I believe it must have been on the rise of ground a few rods easterly of the 
Academy, there came a large buck on a full leap and stopped at about twenty 
yards distant from us. [The old Academy of which he speaks stood on the south- 
erly side of the road and just at the head of the " Dugway " hill in Parishville. 
It was destroyed by fire May 17, 1854.] My friend drew his gun upon him. 
It missed fire. I drew mine h'om under my coat and fired. The deer started 
very suddenly and ran partly around us and stopped again at fifty yards distant. 
My fi-jend drew his gun and again it missed fire. The deer ran off and to appear- 
ance was not hurt. While I was loading my gun my friend went to where the 
deer stood when I fired to see what discoveries he could find of his being hit. He 
said I had not hurt the deer any, and if the ball had hit him it was only a light 
brush across the back, and further that a person so practised in shooting as I was 
who should miss a deer at so short a distance ought to be, to use his own expres- 
sion, whipped. He followed along on the track to where the deer stood when 
his gun missed fire the second time. He here said there was no use in following 
the deer any farther, for he was not wounded. So saying he threw his gun on to 
his shoulder and walked off towards the bridge. I felt my friend's rebuke and 
was a good deal mortified and chagrined. 

As soon as my gun was loaded I also followed around on the track and be- 
yond where my friend had left it. He hallooed to me to come away. I said 
nothing but continued slowly along the track. I followed it for twenty-five or 
thirty rods and came to the deer. He was dead. I never could perceive why 
I persevered and followed on, for I discovered nothing encouraging. The track 
was of the deer on the run, no blood or any indication of his being wounded. 
I now hallooed to my friend, but it was with difficulty I could make him under- 
stand what I wanted, for we were fifty or sixty rods apart. He, however, 
turned and came slowly and reluctantly back. I walked toward him and met 
him. I told him the deer was dead. He replied, " Is it possible ?" He was 
of the largest class of buck and very fat. We drew him over on to the northerly 
side of the river and hung him up near where the stone store now stands. 

We heard the sound of axes away to the southwest. What it meant or 
who they were we then knew not. We now return to our shanty well satisfied 
with our day's hunt. The next day the weather was warmer, foggy and misty 
in the morning. We set out for hunting on separate courses. We, however, 
came together in the afternoon. We had in our separation each killed a deer. 
The one I had killed was as large as the one I killed the day before, but not so 
fat, and that of my friend was a middling sized deer. We now travelled together 
along the path towards our shanty. We were standing on the east bank of the 
little brook crossing the Turnpike on, formerly, H. Peck's farm. [Hiram Peck 
was the father of the late Comer M. Peck of Potsdam, and lived on what is 
known as the Capell or Mrs. D. S. Howe farm.] Our notice was attracted up 
the brook where we saw deer coming on the run. They came opposite to us 
and stood. We both drew our guns, but that of my friend missed fire, that 
of my own went off and I killed one of the deer. We now returned to our 
shanty as well pleased with this day's hunt as we were of the one previous. 

There was something amusing, at the same time hazardous, in getting the 
buck I killed to-day. I shot about eight rods. He fell the instant the gun 



68 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

went off. He was up, however, on his fore feet about as quick. I saw it and 
dropped my gun and ran down to him, catched him by one of his horns and 
twitched him down. In his fall he threw his head into the sprangling roots of 
a birch and became so firmly tangled by his horns that it was with difficulty I 
afterwards liberated him. All this, however, was in my favor provided I could 
keep his body down hill and confine him there. I did not know at the time 
that he was firmly fastened. He bounded about lively, snufl^ed and roared fright- 
fiilly, and in attempting to catch him by the hind legs to pull his body down 
below the tree I received several severe blows. My shot had only brushed the 
deer across the back which stunned and weakened him for a short time. He 
was soon gaining his strength. I perceived it. It now came to my mind to ham- 
string him, which I did very quickly; but all this availed nothing towards keep- 
ing him still or preventing his striking with his fore feet. He finally in the fury 
of his movements threw himself over and his neck lay twisted around the roots 
of the tree with his throat up. I saw it and as quick as a flash ran around the tree 
to guard myself against the blows of his fore feet and stuck my knife into the large 
veins of his neck. It soon appeared the conflict was over and that I had won 
the battle. The engagement lasted about two minutes. 

I said when we were up at the falls yesterday we heard the sound of axes. 
We did so and on going there the third day after we had killed and hung up the 
big buck we found that David Parish's hands, under the superintendence of Daniel 
Hoard, were cutting a road from Potsdam to the falls. They had come through 
with the road and had built a shanty and commenced clearing the land near the 
rivfer on the northerly side. Daniel Hoard paid us the money for the deer. So 
we had no further trouble with the carcass. — Elisha Risdon. 



HUNTING EXPERIENCES IN 1813 — THE VICISSITUDES AND 
PLEASURES OF HUNTING EVEN IN THOSE DAYS. 

Mr. Risdon married Amanda, daughter of Reuben Post, 
in 181 1. At this time, 18 13, Mr. Post was hving where 
Truman E. Post does now, and Mr. Risdon near a mile 
north on the Potsdam road. Mr. Risdon's passion for hunt- 
ing the deer seems, at this time, to have been uncontrollable. 
The story of his passion and experience, written evidently to 
while away a passing moment, is as follows : 

In the first days of November, 1813, there fell a light snow such as 
hunters call a hunters' snow. It was not a very good one, too dry and light, 
not of sufficient depth to drown the noise made by stepping on the leaves, sticks, 
etc. I lived at that time on the Potsdam road near where P. Mosher now lives 
and hunted up the Turnpike toward Parishville. Father Reuben Post lived then 
on the Turnpike where R. Post, his son, now lives. Father was a very indus- 
trious man, his family was also. They spent but a small portion of their time 
in idleness, and it appeared to me that father was not altogether satisfied that I 
should spend so much of my time hunting. I could read his displeasure in his 
countenance. I was sorry to displease him, but what could I do ? I possessed 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 69 

a very strong passion for hunting. It was powerful. From my liouse south to 
the Turnpiiie it was most of the way woods, and I used to manage to get into 
the road and pass on unseen, but at this time father and the boys were up the 
Turnpike maicing shingles and so, to avoid a meeting, I set out very early in the 
morning before there was daylight. Father, however, was as early as myself. 
We met and walked awhile together. We parted, he to his work and I to my 
hunting without much being said. I hunted all the day and saw but one deer, 
and that on the run. I returned home at about sunset, put up my gun, and 
said to Mrs. R. that I would go out no more, or at least not at present, for I 
had been out several times and had caught nothing ; that hunting was a poor 
business. The next morning I rose early for work. I noticed the wind blew 
and that there were signs for a better day for hunting than what it was the day 
before. My passions were soon caught. I could not deny myself so inviting a 
prospect as then seemed exhibited of the certainty of my killing a deer that day. 
I stepped lively, did my chores, ate my breakfast and was off before light, deter- 
mined that I would be in the road before my father this morning at any rate. I 
was unlucky, however. Father was as early as myself. We again met. 
" What I " says father," going again to-day ? " " Yes, sir." " Did you kill any- 
thing yesterday ! " "No, sir." I felt rebuked, but what could I do, my passions 
for hunting were powerful. We walked on together for a piece. I got into 
the woods, however, as soon as I conveniently could. I again hunted all day 
and saw but one deer. I shot at that, but could not find where the ball hit. I 
was sure, however, I had not hit the deer. I returned home tired and dis- 
couraged, laid my gun on the bed, cut some wood, did the chores, took my 
gun and wiped it clean and dry, hung it up in its place, where as I thought then 
it would remain awhile, for it appeared to me I had better be chopping and 
clearing some land for a crop of corn or wheat another year, than spending my 
time in the precarious pursuit of the deer. Such were my feelings that evening, 
but what on the next morning .■" I rose early for work. I again discovered 
signs of a better day for hunting than what it had been the day before. Is it 
possible, thought I, that after such ill luck that I can think of going again to-day } 
Yes, I was as anxious for hunting as ever. I was enthusiastic. I anticipated 
the deer on the hills skipping about. I was off in season. I had not been in 
the woods long before I killed a very large doe. This day's hunt always re- 
minded me of Lord Nelson's pursuit of the French fleet previous to the battle of 
the Nile. He came in pursuit to America and then to the West Indies, back 
to England and then back to the West Indies and again back across the ocean 
where he passed through the Strait of Gibraltar into the Mediterranean and on 
till he met them. So I passed over and around the hills, through the swamps 
and back again. It was in the afternoon before I saw another deer. He was a 
noble buck, and I had the good luck to kill him. I dressed him and set out for 
home. I came in among rocks in the dark woods. I saw a deer standing. I 
fired. All was still. I could see nothing. I went to loading my gun. There 
was a deer started from the place. I ran down into a swail where there was 
more light. I fired at him. He fell. I went to him and dressed him, went 
to the place where the deer I first fired at stood. She was a large doe and had 
fallen in among the rocks out of sight, and in fact had so wedged herself in 
among the rocks that I found it difficult to draw her out. I had now killed four 



70 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

grown deer, two of them heavy bucks. I returned home with far different feel- 
ings than what I had the two days previous. — Elisha Risdon. 

This essay, or letter, shows conclusively that Mr. Post 
was settled on the Turnpike in 1813 and that Mr. Risdon 
was living on the Potsdam road. The log house in which 
Reuben Post then lived, dressed up somewhat, is still in 
use by the farm tenant. It also shows that his hunting 
grounds were then up the Turnpike, probably in south of the 
former residence of William S. Howe. The natural meadows 
there were very inviting to the deer. Hunters have gone 
there every fall since with slowly diminishing success. His 
craze for hunting was great, but no greater than that of many 
men to-day. He called it a passion, though no doubt every 
bit of the meat was used as food, which must have stimulated 
his passion. To-day our gentry profess to go for recreation 
from their arduous labors and for health. But a small part of 
the meat is actually utilized. So it is not a question of food. 
If they would take a small hatchet to keep off the porcupine 
and other voracious animals and do the same tramping, surely 
they would get equal good from the outing. The mere fact 
of creeping on to a deer in his wild home and sending a bullet 
tearing, crushing and breaking his bones does not give one 
health. No, it cannot be that the act of shooting and killing 
can build up and reinvigorate any one. If it does so inspirit 
any one as to do this he should be ashamed of himself. He 
must have murder in his heart. No deer should be killed ex- 
cept possibly for actual food, the same as cattle are killed. To 
do it for sport or pleasure or to kill more than is actually 
needed for food is cruelty and wantonness. 

LETTERS TO ELIPHALET BRUSH THE LAST WRITINGS OF 
MR. RISDON — A BRIEF PICTURE OF THE EARLIEST 
TIMES BY ONE PIONEER TO ANOTHER — A FORECAST 
OF THE FUTURE THAT SEEMS ALMOST PROPHETIC. 

To Eliphalet Brush, Esq. 

Dear Brother: If I am correct you came to this country in 1802. I 
came early in I 804, but with the view of a limited stay, for my father was very 
much opposed to my settling in this country. He said that in his view of 
Northern New York for frost, deep snows, and general sterility, the country 
would well compare with Greenland, and that the inhabitants, if any, for learn- 
ing and worth would continue but a step in advance of the savages. My 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 71 

father, however, knew better. He spoke probably on the spur of his feeling 
and to discourage me, yet the cold and the deep snows alarmed him. 

I saw in our sterile clime, in the evergreen forest, noble rivers and cata- 
racts, a sublimity, a romantic grandeur, which accorded with my feelings and 
attached me to the country. Here I have spent my youth and the best part of 
my life. My physical labors have been severe as a land surveyor, having 
ranged the forest to a considerable extent and having also chased the mountain 
deer. We came here when the primitive forest shaded the earth, and when 
only here and there the sound of the woodman's axe was heard. The roads 
were a little more than a line of marked trees, the dwellings bark covered 
shanties. The Indian and the wild animals were the lords of the land. Such 
we found Northern New York. 

But now the contrast is great. We may look over extensive fields, 
orchards, meadows and pastures with hundreds of flocks and herds feeding ; 
elegant farmhouses, many ot them splendid, adorned with shade and walks. 
Every town has a pleasant village, one or more churches, schoolhouses, offices, 
taverns, stores and mechanic shops of every trade, mills, factories, iron foundries, 
turnpikcd and macadamized roads. Now we have elegant four-horse stages, 
pleasure carriages and teams on business briskly passing, and even a great thor- 
oughfare, the work of a railroad is now in progress, and will soon be in opera- 
tion crossing Northern New York from the lake to the great St. Lawrence. 
[He refers to the O. & L. C. R. R., which began operation in 18 50. J We 
see the population of St. Lawrence County increased to nearly or quite seventy 
thousand. The physical and moral condition of our county is fair and pros- 
perous. But it is painful, brother, to reflect that so many of our early friends 
and contemporaries who commenced with us now sleep in their graves. A 
kind Providence has spared the lives of a few, even of the pioneers who led 
the way at first, to witness the improvements of the country, all they could rea- 
sonably have expected. But the survivors of that class are aged and sadly worn, 
excessive and long continued handling of the axe and the lever has operated 
hard on our physical frames. We, too, must ere long pass away, for such 
were the conditions of our birth, and leave behind the avails of all our labor, 
a legacy to our children and to succeeding generations. So good-bye. May 
God favor you with many years of life to do good. My love to all. 

19th January, 1850. Elisha Risdon. 

The present appears to be a remarkable period in the history of the world. 
The power of mind and intellect seems to have greatly enlarged or increased in 
force within fifty years. The improvements made are wonderful, and even now 
progressing with such an impetus as will cease with the beating of the pulse only. 

Have you read the President's message } If his commands for making roads 
are carried into effect, which no doubt will be, the time is not far distant when our 
children or others may, if they wish to brush off the rust by a short journey after 
planting, trunk a few articles of clothing, step into a car and soon be in Oregon 
or California, thence by wind or steam land at the Isthmus, cross from the 
Pacific to the Atlantic, again aboard, land at any of the great Atlantic cities. The 
facilities for getting home are the same. If they land at Boston and return by 
the railroad they will then have compassed most of the United States and 
Mexico, and be at home in season to gather the corn and potatoes. 



72 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

The mind of man is expanding, his genius and enterprise are ahead, his 
courage and boldness in adventures abroad are increasing. The time is at hand 
when all the islands, seas and continents will be familiar, and the people of all 
nations will meet in social intercourse as friends and neighbors, and our little 
globe be too diminutive for the scope of man's ambition. So good-bye again. 

3 1 St January, 1850. 

It is said nothing is made in vain, and probably this is true. Even our south 
woods, which we now esteem so lightly and as a barren waste, no doubt contain 
mines of wealth which the industry and avarice of man will eventually dig for, 
but at present is nature's reserved portion for the occupation and improvement of 
millions yet to be born. And yet I predict that in fifty years, and perhaps less, 
may be seen roads and even railroads crossing this now trackless region in vari- 
ous directions, the country in a good degree populated, the soil made productive 
with flocks and herds, and Northern New York for wealth and population rank 
a little superior to any part of the state. The people of northern, sterile climes 
are the best in the world. They are more hardy to endure labor and fatigue, 
possess more energy, are more virtuous and moral, and under a free government 
like ours are far better educated and far superior for inteUigence and work to the 
people of the softer and more spontaneous climes. In such latitudes ignorance, 
indolence and licentiousness prevail. The passions partake of the nature of the 
clime, run high. The better educated class manifest an outward politeness and 
chivalrous sense of honor, it is true, but their tempers are savage and, when ex- 
cited, have little regard for the laws of God or man. Murders, fightings, dirk- 
ings, duellings, are far more common at the South than at the North. You may 
not agree with my philosophy, but I will ask what could or would those indolent 
southerners have done with the thick set and powerful forest trees which once 
shaded this country ? I guess nothing at all. They would have failed at once. 
None but a race of northerners could have managed them. 

The first settlers of this country were mostly young men, each one a host 
in himself. He had no allies, no slave labor, no servant help, but rested 
wholly on the power of his own physical arm. Before such men the forest has 
consumed away, and where once was pursued the wild deer are now splendid 
villages adorned by the clack of machinery and the busy hum of industry, and 
where the wolf howled and prowled for prey, now is heard the teamster's halloa, 
lowing kine and bleating flocks. But you and I, brother, have done the most 
we can. A new man is coming on, new plays and new actors. We are being 
shoved off as obsolete. A kind Providence has preserved us through our youth, 
our middle age, and now into the evening shades of life. It is prudence in us to 
be now thinking of the scenes of another world, our appearance before our Cre- 
ator. You may live many years and do good, but as for me I think my disease 
will wear me out when I shall be laid beside the companion of my youth who 
shared with me in the labors of life, some little stir at my funeral, but soon settled 
and forgot. So goes the human family. Please give this letter to Jane, your 
daughter, and let her look it over and punctuate it. If it then fails to read with 
interest, it is very easy to consume it. I write sitting in my bed with my paper 
on a board, merely for amusement. So good-bye. My love to all. 

Hopkinton, February 7, 1850. Elisha Risdon. 

I have written a continuation of my letter of the 19th of January which I 
enclose to you in this. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 73 

Eliphalet Brush, Esq^ 

Annex this to my letter of the 19th of January if you please. 

The first settlers of this country were staid, thoughtful men. They mani- 
fested a good deal of prudence, were interested in the future welfare of their coun- 
try and commenced in the right way. The education and morals of the children 
and youth, also the morals and conduct of society, were particularly regarded 
from the first. In all the new settlements as soon as a class of scholars could be 
formed in any district a schoolhouse was sure to be built and a teacher employed. 
That same laudable spirit continues now with unabated zeal and energy, and 
probably in no part of the state are the common district schools better attended 
or in a more flourishing condition than in St. Lawrence County. In addition to 
the district schools every town of note supports one, and many of them more, well 
conducted select schools. Schools located in the principal villages for the higher 
branches of common education are also in a flourishing condition and are evidence 
of the literary taste of the community. The one at Potsdam (St. Lawrence 
Academy) standing foremost tor popularity is noted far abroad and by judicious 
and efficient management is patronized by many of the best families in various 
parts of the United States and Canada. The buildings are spacious and elegant 
and beautifully adorn that village. The people of Potsdam and vicinity are justi- 
fied in their pride of so flourishing and useful an institution. That school is a 
merited honor and does honor to the county. 

So we see that a wise and prudent beginning has accomplished wonders in 
the line of education and morals. Nor is St. Lawrence County behind for liter- 
ary men and men of worth. One of the most prominent members of the United 
States Senate (Silas Wright of Canton) was not many years ago a humble resident 
of this county. The same individual served a term as governor of this state and, 
had he lived, no doubt would now be the acting president of the United States. 
But the intellect of the county is not confined to one. There are a great many 
others of eminent abilities who would adorn the desk, the bar or the legislative 
halls of any place. The speaker of the House of the Legislature of this state 
(Noble S. Elderkin of Potsdam), now in session, is a resident of St. Lawrence 
County, which is highly gratifying. Even young men, natives of the county and 
educated here, serve as clerks in the government departments at Washington. 

The females, dear creatures, merit a share of praise, for the county certainly 
produces a fair display of female talent and worth. The education of females is 
being more regarded than formerly, which is as it should be, for nature produces 
nothing more amiable or angelic than is found in modest, discreet, well-educated 
females. 

I would have the county stand a little foremost, not so much in wealth and 
fijrniture as in cultivated minds, in morals and mental worth. But the minds of 
most men seem to be limited beyond the acquisition of dollars and cents, which is 
too much their aim and their glory. I should like well now to see a history of 
the county and think the survivors of the pioneers should be thus gratified. We 
have men in the county fully competent for the work. No more is wanting, but 
their mind turned to the subject. A statistical account of the county and of the 
towns, when settled and whom by, when organized, first town meetings, ofiicers, 
etc., would certainly be interesting to all. Yours again as ever, 

Elisha Risdon. 

14th February, 1850. 



74 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

The foregoing letters are written in a plain, clear, regular 
hand and with very few corrections. They were written, as 
he states, when ill and confined to his bed, on a board across 
his limbs, sitting upright. Under such circumstances and at 
such disadvantage they are, to say the least, remarkable let- 
ters. But few people are given the power to compose as well 
even in the best of health. They were written to Eliphalet 
Brush, one of the first pioneers, father of Jason and grand- 
father of Charles H., to whom they have legitimately de- 
scended and in whose hands they are well and carefully treas- 
ured. 

So far as I learn they are the last writings of Mr. Risdon 
known to be extant. He died only a little over a year later, 
October 19, 1851. I think it altogether probable that he 
kept up his diary to near the time of his death, as he had 
such a fondness for writing and recording events, but in the 
division of it among three families and changing of location by 
two of them It seems to be irrevocably lost. 

These letters give us a very clear though brief picture of 
the early life of the pioneers, their surroundings and discom- 
forts, and since it is by one of them it is official and authori- 
tative. It is greatly to be regretted that he did not write in 
detail, giving us a pen picture of their cabins, clothes, food, 
cooking, their hardships and privations, their mishaps and 
successes, their sorrows and their joys. These letters and 
other writings of his are proof that he could have done it 
and in a charming and intelligent manner. 

From these letters and the diary we can see them quite 
plainly, it is true, for those fifty years from i 803 when they 
entered the wilderness of Hopkinton, but each reader must 
add and fill in many things for himself to make a full picture 
of the scene. In doing this many of us, if not all, must err. 
Life is by no means told with the naming of the officials, num- 
ber of stores, shops, schools, churches, etc. We must get 
back of these if we would see them as they were and learn 
what they cooked and how they cooked it, what they wore and 
how they made it, their joys and their sorrows, their social 
and family life, their customs, notions and beliefs, and how 
they wooed and won and loved. Mr. Risdon could have told 
us all these things and in a masterly manner, and I am not a 
little surprised that he did not write more fully since he was 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 75 

so anxious that the Hfe of the pioneers be written and pre- 
served. But we should not and I do not complain, since he 
did so much to tell us of that early wilderness life. We 
should be and I am sure all the descendants of those pioneers 
as well as many others are grateful to him and his memory 
for the record he has given us. 

That he was more than a good writer is shown by these 
letters. He possessed good judgment, discernment and even, 
it would seem, prophetic power. It is amazing that one in 
an interior town with no advantages should foresee and foretell 
by twenty years the spanning of this continent with iron rails 
and the piercing of the Adirondack wilderness with railroads. 
The trip he pictured could have taken place within twenty 
years from his writing. 

The " islands, seas and continents " have already become 
familiar as he predicted, but they hardly yet " meet in social 
intercourse as friends and neighbors." That will be some 
time yet. Just now England, Russia and our own country 
are shooting the natives of far off lands into subjection and 
obedience. When we get them sufficiently impoverished and 
punished very likely they will be " friendly and neighborly." 

The picture he draws of the difference between the peo- 
ple of southern and northern climes is now everywhere ad- 
mitted as fact. And he might have added that a genius nor 
a confessedly great man in the civil or literary or scientific 
world was ever born south of north latitude twenty. The 
brain and brawn and conscience of this planet have appeared 
in the north temperate zone. 

The opening sentence of these letters must dispel and put 
at rest any doubt that Mr. Brush was one of the six pioneers 
of 1802. He lived to the great age of ninety-one years, 
dying January 11, 1872. 

He closes his letter with an appeal for a history of the 
county and of the struggle and early life of the pioneers. 
Dr. Hough's history is a large volume and must have taken 
a long time in preparation. It was published in 1853. It 
seems very strange indeed that Mr. Risdon had not heard of 
the compiling of that work. If Dr. Hough did visit Hop- 
kinton to gather data for his work, and V. A. Chittenden says 
he did, then it must have been at the very latest moment. 
Had he visited the town in Mr. Risdon's lifetime he would 



76 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

surely have been referred to him, as he was for years its town 
clerk, and was its only historical writer. Dr. Hough copies 
in his work a quite lengthy article by Mr. Risdon, prefacing 
it with the expression, " supposed to have been written by 
Mr. Risdon." Had he made any investigation he would 
have learned it as a fact. He copied the article from the 
Northern Cabinet of September 3, 1845, printed at Potsdam 
or Canton. 



CHAPTER VII. 

Where the Pioneers Settled — The Experiences of some of Them 
— A Brief Sketch or History of the Farm or Place, with 
some Interesting: Incidents — Pictures of some of the Early and 
Modern Homes. 

As is shown by Mr. Hopkins's old account book there 
were some thirty men, very many of them with their families, 
in what is now Hopkinton, in the latter part of the year 1804. 
Very likely there were a few others whose names we do not 
know, since they did not happen to open an account with Mr. 
Hopkins. Those men settled in and about the village, along 
the road to Nicholville, and southerly up along what soon 
after became known as the Northwest Bay Road, as far as 
Jared Dewey's, westerly along the Potsdam road to Joseph 
Durfey's (Herman Fisher's), and northwesterly to Gaius Shel- 
don's, on the road to Stockholm, where were their only neigh- 
bors. They did not seem to settle southwesterly till about 
1 8 10. In Mr. Risdon's story of his hunting trip to Cook- 
ham (Parishville) in the fall of 1809 with Amasa Blanchard, 
he states that the line of road, the St. Lawrence Turnpike, 
had just been cut out and that there were then no residences 
along it west of Hopkinton village. A reference to the map 
which I have prepared of the north part of Hopkinton from 
the original deeds will show the location of nearly all the 
settlers of 1803, 1804 and 1805, and for many years there- 
after, of those who took the first title. That, of course, does 
not tell In all cases just where they first settled, as some of 
them built a cabin, made a little clearing, met with sickness, 
trouble, misfortune of some kind and sold out before getting 
a deed. Some of these took up a tract in another locality, 
and some became so disheartened that they gave it up entirely 
and returned from whence they came or went into Stockholm 
or Chesterfield or Parishville. 



78 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

There are a few men among them of whom I have been 
able to learn but very little. These are Isaac Sheldon, Elipha- 
let Hancock, Joseph Belong, Ezra Church, Eli Tomlinson, 
Luther Bingham and Robert Train. 

Settlement East of the Village. 

Abraham Sheldon, who Is next to Rosweli Hopkins in 
importance in the earliest history of the town, since he was 
the father of the first son of the town and the builder of the 
first frame house, according to Dr. Hough, took the tract be- 
ginning one hundred and sixty rods east of the Chittenden 
store corner (east end of Reuben Post's Mechanic Lot num- 
ber eight) and extending on east, taking in what are known as 
the George H. Brush and Deacon John Sheldon farms. He 
built a small frame house in 1809, which is part of the George 
H. Brush house. He died from the kick of a horse at Ru- 
pert, Vt., early in 1809 or 18 10. His widow married Joseph 
Brush in 18 14. He built over and added to the little frame 
house of Mr. Sheldon. The children by this marriage were 
Joseph A. and George H. Brush. Deacon John, son of Abra- 
ham, took the east part of the farm, and it is still held by his 
widow. George H. took the west part and held it till about 
1880, when he sold to Harry Haselton and went to Lamoille, 
111., where he died in 1888. 

Joel Goodell. The story of Mr. Joel Goodell's coming 
into town with wife in February, 1804, to settle is told by his 
grandson, John Leach, to whom he often told it with much 
clearness and certainty. They came in the dead of winter to 
the cabin already built, a half mile north of the present resi- 
dence, reaching it after dark and on the eighteenth birthday of 
his wife, which was the twenty-fifth day of February. She was 
Lydia Henderson, sister of John, and they were married Feb- 
ruary 7. What a journey was that for a wedding trip ! His 
father, Ezekiel, came with him on horseback. They came 
with a yoke of oxen to haul their goods, and drove a cow. 
The horse got tired out wallowing in the snow when near the 
cabin, and the men went on ahead, leaving wife, oxen, horse 
and cow where they were to rest while they built a fire in the 
cabin, to thaw it out and get it habitable, when they returned and 
took all to camp. The only food for horse and cattle was 




THE LAUGHLIN HOTEL AND RESIDENCE. 
Built by Thaddeus in 1814. 




ZORASTER ( UI \rR S RLS1DFN(F, NOW OWNLD HY IRFDERILK L IRASK. 




JASON brush's residence, now owned by son CHARLES H. 




''^iSjgswtt,...^ 



THE JOEL GOODELL RESIDENCE. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 



79 



some corn in the ear and what they could get by browsing. 
The floor was made of puncheons, that is, split or hewed out 
logs. The fireplace was a rude affair with a hole in the roof 
for the escape of the smoke. He very soon after built a chim- 
ney, which improved matters. This was the home to which 
he came and where he lived for seven or eight years, when he 
built a log house some thirty rods west of the present brick 
residence. The British officers called there on some errand 
at the time they took the flour in 1814. He later built a 
frame house which his son Joel took down when he built the 
present brick residence about 1870. The farm extended from 
that of Abraham Sheldon on the west to that of his brother 
Samuel on the east and does still. It is held by his grand- 
daughters, Amelia and Mary E. 

Samuel Goodell also built himself a cabin in 1802 or 
1803 and a blacksmith shop in the latter year. In all prob- 
ability he built near to Joel's cabin, though nothing definite 
can be learned. He soon after built up on the Turnpike 
where Josiah Smith now resides and had his shop on the east 
bank of the brook and north side of the road. It was the 
first shop of that kind between Malone and Ogdensburg. 
His farm extended east to the turn in the road to enter Nich- 
olville. He was compelled by the British to hitch up his 
team in 18 14 and carry some of the officers to Fort Coving- 
ton. On his death in 1822 the farm was divided up among 
the heirs, and in a few years it passed entirely out of the hands 
of the Goodell family, except the house and a few acres held 
by the widow. Hiram Mead held the west part of the farm 
and sold out in 1843 and went to Nauvoo, 111., to join the 

Mormons. Mr. Eggleston held that part of the farm 

next east of Mr. Mead, with his buildings only a short distance 
west of the Goodell residence. Rev. Seymour C. Goodell 
bought the old home on the death of his mother, with about 
twenty acres many years ago, and held it till his death in 1893. 

The pioneer Goodell built a frame house as is shown by 
the diary in July, 1815, with a hall on the second floor which 
was used more or less for school and religious purposes. This 
house burned down in 1867 or 1868 when the present house 
was built in 1869 by Rev. Seymour C, which is owned by 
Josiah Smith. 



8o EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Henry McLaughlin came early in 1804 and took a 
large tract south from the village Green and east a half mile 
to the land of Oliver Sheldon. He also bought other par- 
cels amounting in all to one thousand acres or more. He at 
once built a log house and opened a hotel. Mrs. Caroline 
(Sprague) Laughlin, widow of his grandson, T. Harmon, told 
me that this log house stood on the south end of the Green, 
which confirms King S. Chittenden's recollection. It stood 
in the southeast corner of the park. There was a well there 
which Mr. Chittenden remembers that has been filled. 
Henry McLaughlin died at Middlebury, Vt., in 1813, and 
his only child, Thaddeus, inherited the property and continued 
the business. He married Hannah, a sister of Artemus 
Kent. In 1808 Roswell Hopkins drew and signed a deed of 
the present Green to the inhabitants of the town which took 
in Laughlin's log house. The diary of Mr. Kent states 
that Mr. Laughlin went to Vermont in 18 14 for materials 
for a house which I feel confident is the present residence. 
The log house on the Green was probably occupied by Dr. 
Gideon Sprague from i 8 1 1 to 1 8 1 4, as his daughter so remem- 
bers it. Artemus Kent was in partnership with him for three 
years from 18 13. The present residence was long used as a 
hotel and the front west room as a barroom. Thaddeus W. 
Laughlin of Fond-du-Lac, Wis., son of Hiram K., a 
grandson of Henry, seems to be the only survivor of the 
family. What was left of the farm, some two hundred and 
twenty-five acres, was sold in 1902 to Silas H. Sanford. 

I secured a photograph of the old fireplace with swing- 
ing crane, bake oven and boiler arch before its demolition by 
Mr. Sanford, which is given elsewhere. The picture of the 
residence was taken a few years since by King T. Sheldon and 
kindly loaned me. 

Oliver Sheldon took the farm next east of Laughlin 
as early as July, 1804. He bought some fifteen acres, 
the northeast corner of Mr. Laughlin's farm, to enable 
him to first build near a brook which ran through this lot. 
His farm consisted of two hundred and fifty-five acres, extend- 
ing east to Eliphalet Brush, taking in the farms since known 
as the Dr. J. A. Sheldon, Joseph A. Brush and David F. 
Henderson farms. All the original farm or tract, except the 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 8i 

Henderson farm, is now held by John Hurley. The old 
house, a cut of which is given, was built by him at a very 
early date. 

It is claimed that he built the first frame barn in town, and 
that all the men, women and children in town were present at 
the raising. It stood back of the house and was a part of 
the large barn which burned in 1902. Mr. Sheldon sprained 
his ankle in 181 5, which resulted in the loss of foot. (See 
diary, June, 1815.) 

Zebel Thomas came in 1805 and settled on fifty acres, 
where David F. Henderson now resides, as his grandson, 
Norton F. Thomas, informs me. He does not seem to have 
opened an account with Mr. Hopkins, though his son John 
did in 1808. If he bought a tract there he must have done 
so from Oliver Sheldon. 

Eliphalet Brush took one hundred acres, the tract next 
east where his son Jason lived and his grandson, Charles H., 
now resides. His deed bears date 1804. A cut of the house 
built by Jason is given. A fuller sketch is given in family 
records and in the settlement of the town. 

Amasa Blanchard evidently came in the fall of 1803 and 
took the one hundred and fifty acres next east of Eliphalet 
Brush, where J. T. Canfield and A. A. Hawkins now have 
farms. He had twelve children, several of whom were grown. 
He took an active hand in town affairs and was something of 
a hunter. He went with Mr. Risdon on the trip to Cookham 
in the fall of 1809. He built and they used a hunting camp 
south of the Turnpike in common. 

Jared Dewey took the one hundred acres next westerly of 
William Brush in 1803, and the story has come down that he 
selected it on account of the fine springs there and that it was 
given to him by his brother-in-law, Roswell Hopkins. His 
son William W., who held it many years, now ninety-two 
years past, resides at Western, Minn. The farm is now held 
by Ira A. Murray. 

William Brush came in 1804 and took a hundred acres 
up near Jared Dewey's. He was quite active in town affairs, 
as we shall presently see, but that is all I learn of him. I do 
not find that he was related to Joseph and Eliphalet Brush, 



8z EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

who were brothers. Title was taken to the lot by himself, 
wife Sarah and one Epenetus Brush, November 24, 1817. 

Joseph Brush came in 1807 or 1808 and took up a hun- 
dred acres on the road adjoining Jared Dewey's. He at once 
got a cow, and he and the cow moved on to the tract. They 
lived in the same cabin, partitioned off. He spent several 
winters chopping and clearing land, and his cow out of sheer 
lonesomeness would follow him daily to the woods and browse 
about all day on basswood trees that Mr. Brush felled for the 
purpose while he chopped, returning at night with him to the 
cabin. During those first few years Mr. Brush lived at times 
entirely on bread and milk. The latter he got from the cow, 
and the bread of a neighbor a mile or so distant. In 18 14 he 
married the widow of Abraham Sheldon and took residence 
with her on the farm known in late years as the George H. 
Brush place, now owned by Harry Hazelton. Mr. Brush 
hved till 1879 and often told his early experiences to King S. 
Chittenden, Esq., and others. 

Horace Train took the one hundred acres next westerly 
of Mr. Dewey, which locality was called Independence Hill. 
Dr. Hough says he came in 1804 or 1805. He did not start 
any account with Mr. Hopkins till 1807. A Mr. Robert 
Train did in June, 1804, but I do not find that he took title 
to any land, nor do I get any trace of him. Horace Train 
sold out some years later and settled down in Stockholm, near 
the Edwin O. Phelps place. He later went West where his 
children had gone, and died at Manston, Wis., in 1876. 
Harry Train, who worked for Mr. Hopkins, moved into 
Parishville and had dealings with David Parish at an early date. 
He later moved into Pierrepont and was the father of ten 
children, among whom were George H., now living at 
Hannawa Falls, Asahel, living at Potsdam, and Andrew J., 
who died at Potsdam in 1899. 

David Henderson took the farm adjoining and southerly 
of Jared Dewey and Horace Train. It is now known as the 
Nelson Lindsay farm. He came to town in about 18 14. 
(See sketch.) 

Samuel Wilson took title to the triangular piece between 
the east bounds of Samuel Goodell's lands and the large tract 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 83 

bought by David Parish (see map), taking in all the south 
shore of the river at Nicholville for some distance. He built 
a dam there that year. Eliphalet Brush assisted in its build- 
ing, and his grandson has memoranda showing his charges for 
his labor. (See history of East Village.) 

Settlement of the Village. 

RoswELL Hopkins, from what I am able to glean through 
the mists of near a century, must have lived in several 
places in the village. His first house in all probability stood 
on the west bank of Lyd Brook, some sixty or eighty rods 
south of the cemetery. Considerable has been said as to this 
cabin in a previous chapter. 

I cannot help thinking that this was his first home in town, 
and Mr. John A. Harran so thinks. He had many talks 
with Artemus Kent and other pioneers on the early settlement 
of the town, and since he has a very clear memory, his recol- 
lections are worthy of much credence. 

The house in which Mr. Harran resides on the south side 
of the road and west bank of Lyd Brook was built by Mr. 
Hopkins. It was certainly one of if not the first frame struc- 
ture in town, a picture of which is given. Dr. Hough says 
Abraham Sheldon built the first frame house in 1809. Sev- 
eral elderly people are quite tenacious in asserting that the 
Harran house was the first, that they have always so under- 
stood it. Mr. Harran tells me that Artemus Kent, who came 
into town in 1808, told him that Mr. Hopkins built and used 
it as a store for some years. King S. Chittenden can remem- 
ber its having a large front door of planks spiked together, 
with a heavy latch and catch made by a blacksmith, which 
tends to corroborate Mr. Harran's recollection. We know 
that Mr. Hopkins did keep and sell essential goods, for we 
still have his old account book. In all probability this was 
his first store proper and land office. It is pretty evident 
that it did not continue a store for a great length of time or 
else that it was used as a store and dwelling combined, since 
the minutes of the town meeting for 18 10 rather indicate that 
Benjamin W. Hopkins was then residing there, as we know 
from tradition that he did at some time. The minutes for 
181 1 also clearly indicate that Roswell Hopkins was then liv- 



84 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

ing on the Dr. Sprague lot or near it, since they placed the 
burying ground near his residence, and we know that it was 
in the rear of the Goodnow and Sprague lots. 

The day his body was brought home from Chazy in 1829 
was training day at Nicholville and the company there drill- 
ing escorted his remains to his home in Hopkinton, the pres- 
ent Harran residence. Hiram S. Warriner, born in 1823, dis- 
tinctly remembers it and so informs me. Mr. Hopkins had 
a family of five sons and two daughters, and still there is no 
one left bearing his blood and name except Isaac R. Hopkins, 
Esq., and his two children, in this section. His widow, Mary 
Armstrong, whom he had just married, soon after took up her 
residence in the third house north of the Town House known 
as the Sheals place, where she lived till her death in 1850. 
She was a sister of Mrs. Abraham Sheldon, Mrs. Willis War- 
riner, Joseph and Jasper Armstrong, and universally called 
"Aunt Polly." 

Jasper Armstrong came at a very early date, one of the 
first, as is shown by the place where he first built. He took 
Mechanic Lot number one, a strip twenty-eight rods in width 
and one hundred and sixty rods deep, east from the Jacob Phelps 
place lying on the north line of Islington. His first cabin 
was built on the rear or east end of his lot, near a fine spring 
and on the line of the road that was laid out and somewhat 
worked through there in 1802 and 1803. His cabin and 
those of Joel and Samuel Goodell, three-quarters of a mile 
farther east, are the only ones ever built on that road so far 
as I have been able to learn. 

The ruins of the cabin and stable and a few old apple trees 
near by are distinctly remembered by Mrs. Pauline S. Atwood 
and her sister, Mrs. Caroline M. Landon, who often went out 
there from their home, though they cannot recall ever hearing 
who lived there. 

It remained for Mrs. Orman Beecher to give me the name 
of the builder of this cabin. She states that her mother was a 
sister of Mrs. Armstrong and that when she and her husband, 
Heman Sheldon, came into town to settle early in 18 12, her 
mother stopped there with her sister a week or two while Mr. 
Sheldon went on to the west part of the town and got his 
cabin comfortable for her coming. Later Mr. Armstrong 



f^art: ,j CAeJi-^'f-'<:i'(- (Vjn /. , 




^,S/leicic>^. 



J*je./>A /3rM.-lA 






yJ. ^oo^eiL 



St /.ary r<,r\.t.t TUr »»/»./»» fitiacC 



MejA €. 1 






HOPKINTON VILLAGE LOTS AND ADJOINING FARMS. 
From an old map of Mr. Hopkins's, about 1820. 




HOUSE OF ROSWELL HOPKINS, NOW JOHN A. HARRAN'S. 
By some thought to be the olifest house in town. 




ROSWELL HOPKINS, KNOWN AS SHEALS PLACE. 
Oiie of the oldest houses in town. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 85 

built him a log cabin just south of the William S. Phelps 
place, and in about 1821 sold to Jacob Phelps, who held it till 
his death. I learn nothing further of the family of Mr. Arm- 
strong. 

William Warriner came to town in 18 10 and took the 
next lot south of Mr. Armstrong, being Mechanic Lot num- 
ber two, of fourteen acres. His deed bears date in 18 13. He 
married Nancy Armstrong. His son Hiram resides at Knapps 
Station N. Y., and of nine children is the only survivor. 

Nathaniel Rudd, who married Waity, sister of Roswell 
Hopkins, held lot number three, next south. His deed bears 
date 1809, and his lot of twenty-three acres crossed the road 
west to Lyd Brook. I learn nothing of his family or descend- 
ants. 

Eliakim Seeley held the next lot south, extending across 
the road to Lyd Brook, of twenty-three acres, and his title was 
taken in 1807. He came to town as early as March, 1804, 
and at once built a tannery on the bank of Lyd Brook. Mr. 
Warriner says he can remember the tannery in use and opera- 
tion. The bark was ground by a horse travelling in a circle. 
The first town meeting was held in his log house. He seems 
to have been a worthy and prominent citizen. That part of 
the lot on west side of the road is now held by Arthur 
Flanders. T do not learn that any member of his family is 
now living. 

Daniel Hine, Jr., and his wife, Imy, took title to Me- 
chanic Lot number five, of nineteen acres, in 1818, east side of 
road. On Mr. Hopkins's map the name of E. Buckingham 
is placed on this lot. 

Rev. H. S. Johnson, who was for some years the Congre- 
gational pastor, had the next lot south, excepting that Chaun- 
cey Thomas had the front or road end of the lot where he 
lived and had a blacksmith shop. Mr. Johnson also held a 
lot just east of the church lot. 

Martin Covey had the fourth small house lot just north 
of the Chittenden store corner. 

John K. Wead held, as shown by the map, a small lot 
on west side of the road next south of the Seeley lot. The 



86 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

lot, however, was first deeded by Mr. Hopkins to William 
Brown in February, 1817. It was eight rods in width and 
he had the right to build a dam not over five feet in height. 
He was a merchant and had a store for some time on the 
south side of the road opposite Dr. Sprague's office, as George 
S. Wright informs me. Mr. Charles W. Leete of Potsdam 
knew him and shows me a letter from him written in 1837 
in New York City during the great panic, or should I say 
famine, asking for help to get out of the city, describing con- 
ditions there as deplorable. He went about among the 
farmers bartering stoves for cattle, horses, etc. 

The lot next south is noted on map as belonging to 
Philip Schuyler, who loaned money to John Thomas and got 
this lot and the Chittenden store corner by foreclosure of 
mortgage in 1820. For a few years prior to this Thomas 
had a fulling mill on the rear end of the lot. This shows 
that the map must have been made about 1820 or a little 
later. Mr. Schuyler lived at Rhinebeck, Dutchess County, 
N. Y. 

The lot marked L. Knowles was first deeded to Joseph 
Merrill in 1817. The next year it was deeded to Liberty 
Knowles of Potsdam, reserving twenty feet off the north 
side for a public highway. The grantee had a right to build 
a dam on the brook not exceeding eight feet in height. 
Ebenezer Frost, Esq., built a dam and trip hammer shop on 
the rear end of the lot in 18 15. (See account of the shop 
in diary for year 18 15.) It was on this lot that Aunt Polly 
Hopkins lived from 1829 till her death in 1850. Later Wil- 
liam A. Sheals lived there for some years, and it has since been 
called the Sheals lot. It is now owned by V. A. Chittenden. 
It is one of the oldest places in town, and is thought by 
some to have been the home of Mr. Hopkins at an early 
date. A picture is given. 

The next lot south became the parsonage lot of the First 
Congregational Church in June, 1827, by deed from Mr. 
Varick and still is such. 

The lot adjoining this on the south was held for many 
years by George Stark and is still called the Stark lot. He 
had a blacksmith shop on the rear end. The first man to 
occupy the lot so far as I learn was Hiram Snell, a black- 
smith. He was followed by LaFayette Packard, a black- 




RESIDENCE OF VARICK. A. CHITTENDEN. 




RESIDENCE OF KING S. CHITTENDEN. 




CHITTENDEN STORE AND LATE HOME OF CLARK S. CHITTENDEN. 




HOTEL, HOPKINTON VILLAGE. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 87 

smith, and he by Mr. Stark. The place is owned by Mr. 
Stark's daughter. 

ZoRASTER Culver. The lot on the corner just west of the 
Green was first deeded by Mr. Hopkins to Samuel Wilson, 
January 20, 18 17. He built a house and store on it, as I 
learn from Mr. Kent's diary, in 18 17. Mr. Wilson con- 
veyed the lot to Joseph Brush, April 6, 1820, but his title, 
like others given by Mr. Hopkins, must have been faulty, 
since Mr. Varick, who had become the owner of all that 
was left of Mr. Hopkins's lands, sold and conveyed the 
lot to Ebenezer Hulburd of Stockholm and Zoraster Culver, 
June 23, 1827. Prior to this last date John K. Wead kept 
store there for a time. The house Mr. Wilson built was so 
low that it had but little or no chamber except in the rear 
part, which was preserved by Mr. Culver when he came to 
build and is still the rear part of the residence now owned by 
Mr. Fred L. Trask. 

Messrs. Hulburd and Culver kept the store for six years, 
when the latter bought out the former, giving him J6,ooo 
for the $2,000 he had put in. Mr. Culver tore down the old 
house and built the present residence in 1838 or 1839. He 
moved the old store north just west of the church and made 
a granary of it. He then built a new store on the site of 
the old one, just north of the house and close to the line of 
the village Green. Mr. Chittenden on becoming the owner 
of the property moved this store building to the corner 
where the stone store now stands. It was then a red build- 
ing and used as a storehouse for some years. When they 
came to build the present store in 1868, 1869, it was sold 
and taken down the road and made into a dwelling. Later 
it was destroyed by fire. David Daggett was in partnership 
with Mr. Culver in this store for a term of three years. 
I get the most of this history from J. W. Culver of West 
Stockholm, who often visited his uncle when a boy. 

Clark S. Chittenden came to town about 1821 and at 
once went into trade. His residence is shown in the back- 
ground of the picture of the present store. The store build- 
ing first used by him stood a few rods east of his house, 
nearly to or quite where his son King's house now stands. 
He did not trade there long when he built a store just west 



88 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

of and close to his residence, where he did business for many 
years and most successfully. It stood between the house 
shown in picture and the present store, which was built by his 
sons K. S. and V. A. Chittenden in 1868, 1869. The resi- 
dence of King S. stands just east of that of his father, and 
that of Varick A. a few rods north of the store building. (See 
family records for fuller sketch of him.) 

Dr. Gideon Sprague took title to the lot next west of 
the Culver place, six by thirteen rods, December 12, 18 14. 
He came to town in 181 1 and was the second physician to 
settle there. His daughter, Mrs. Harriet W. Sprague, born 
in 18 19, living at Minden, Neb., writes me that her father 
first lived in a log house on the Green and that her eldest 
brother, Frederic P., born September 11, 18 14, was born 
there. Very likely this was the log house built by Henry 
McLaughlin in 1804. Dr. Sprague, according to Mr. 
Risdon's diary, sold his ride to a Dr. Mott in March, 1814, 
but the people, hearing some things objectionable to him, re- 
belled in a public meeting, and so Dr. Sprague acceded to the 
people's wishes and remained till his death. He had a little 
office building which stood on his lot west, well over to the 
Goodnow lot. It now stands back in the lot on the west line 
facing the east and is used as a storeroom. Mrs. Sprague fur- 
ther states that her father built the little house now on the 
lot. Dr. Hough says the British captured some three hun- 
dred barrels of flour in the last of February, 18 14, from a 
barn owned by Mr. Hopkins, but occupied by Dr. Sprague. 
Mr. Artemus Kent in his diary states the number of barrels 
to have been two hundred and eighty-six. It would take a 
pretty good-sized barn to hold that number. Mr. John A. 
Harran tells me that Mr. Artemus Kent told him that most 
of the flour was in the old barn now on his place and the bal- 
ance in a barn over in the village. Now, as his daughter, 
Mrs. Sprague, says her eldest brother was born in September, 
1 8 14, in the log house on the Green, to agree with Dr. Hough 
he must have been using the barn on the Harran place or on 
the Dr. Sprague lot. Since he took title to the latter from 
Mr. Hopkins in December of that year, and since it was much 
nearer to his residence, and for the still greater and better rea- 
son that his daughter says the flour was stored there, I think 





:JSi^t>2iai'?M5&Ms?aC£^!iSi^ 



OLIVER SHELDON S OLD HOUSE. 
Bitilt at a very early dale. 




DR. GIDEON SPRAGUE's HOUSE, WHICH HE BUILT, OR AT LEAST 
MOVED INTO, IN 1 8 1 4. 






1 


1 I 


\ 


\ w 


\- 


W&iti ■ i 





HOUSE KNOWN AS THE fJOODNOW PLACE. 




RESIDENCE OF ADALINE S. KENT. 
Built by Ai'tcmas Kent in 1818. 




RESIDENCE OF ISAAC R. HOPKINS. 
Front built by grandfather^ Isaac R, 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 89 

we must accept that as the place where a portion of the flour 
at least was stored. All elderly people who have any mem- 
ory on the subject somehow, though faintly, feel that it was 
stored in the Harran barn. It has been a very difficult prob- 
lem to solve, if it be now. Mrs. Sprague seems to be very 
clear and explicit in her memory of this quite important event 
in the history of the town. She states that she often heard 
her father relate the story of its capture and destruction. As 
he told it, the flour was in a barn on the lot where he so long 
resided, that afterwards he (Dr. Sprague) moved that barn 
back and built another on the old site. There was a lane or 
alley to the barn along the line of the Goodnow lot. She fur- 
ther says that her father was present at the taking of the flour ; 
that when the British found it they rolled it out to the top of 
the hill, broke in the heads of the barrels and started them 
rolling down the hill ; that the officer told the people who 
were about and complaining of such waste and destruction 
that they could have the flour that did not get out of the bar- 
rels, and, as he did so, turned to Dr. Sprague and said, " Ain't 
I a generous man ?" 

When the British left town they took with them Dr. 
Sprague's horse. In later years Dr. Sprague became very 
corpulent, weighing two hundred and fifty pounds or more. 
He was a man of a good deal of ability as a physician and in 
every other way, and took an active part in all town and pub- 
lic matters, as will be noticed by a study of the records. 
His son. Dr. Fayette P., succeeded him in practice. His 
daughter, Harriet W. Sprague, of Minden, Neb., is now the 
sole survivor of his immediate family. The old home is held 
by her son, Calvin G. Sprague, a cut of which is given. 

John Henderson took title to the lot next west, six rods 
by ten, in 1819, known as the Nathaniel Goodnow place. 
(See story of Goodnow tannery for a history of the lot.) 

Artemus Kent purchased the lot eight by ten rods next 
west of the Goodnow lot in 1817, where the tannery so long 
stood and where the butter factory of Trask & Converse 
now stands. (See story of the tannery for a fuller history of 
the lot.) In 1815 he bought of Mr. Laughlin what has 
ever since been known as the Kent homestead, and is now 
held by his daughter, Adaline S. The wing on the east side 



9° 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 



was added after his death. The man seated in the picture is 
his son, Fred H. Kent. (See fuller sketch of Mr. Kent in 
pioneer records.) 

The Hopkins Homestead is situate on the point formed 
by the junction of the Turnpike with the Potsdam road. The 
front part of residence with piazza was built by Isaac R., son 
of Roswell, many years ago. Isaac R., the present owner, a 
great-grandson of Roswell, the pioneer, built a large addition 
in the rear some years since. 

Eli Roberts appeared in town as early as July, 1807. 
He took up one hundred and ninety acres a mile south of 
the village, where he built a sawmill on the westerly side of 
the road that year or the next. He got a deed from Mr. 
Hopkins, October 5, 1809, for one hundred and ninety acres 
at I475. His son, John S., later built a mill on the east side 
of the road and on the north side of the brook. This went 
into decrepitude when a mill was built across the stream on 
the south side, which is still in use by Benjamin Collins. 
The name was spelled Roburds all through the diary and in 
all old papers and maps, and is so signed by him to the old 
town room agreement, and yet in the old Bible it is Roberts, 
as also in the above deed to him. His grandsons, Ashford 
and Thurman, never heard of the name Roburds till this 
record was published. Thurman, son of John S., held the 
farm till his death in March, 1902, and is now held by his 
son. 

Settlement of the Potsdam Road West to the East Bounds of 
Parishville, 

Elisha Risdon first settled on the Potsdam road, south 
side, a mile west of the village. He bought Mr. Asahel 
Wright's betterments in and to one hundred and fifteen acres 
south from the present road, as I learn from a crude old map 
of Mr. Hopkins's. Mr. Wright was a brother of Caleb and 
took up this tract very early, probably in 1803, and sold to 
Mr. Risdon in 1805. Mr. Wright went to Bucks Bridge in 
the extreme west part of Potsdam, where he settled and pros- 
pered, leaving several descendants, among them his grandson, 
Judson L. Wright. At that early time it was expected that 
the " Potsdam road " would run some rods southerly of where 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 91 

it does, the final location of which left Aaron Warner and the 
Asahel Wright lot back from the road, as may be seen by a 
glance at the map. When Mr. Risdon took title he got that 
part of the farm booked to Eli Squire which lay south of 
the road, and thus he got down to the highway. Mr. Warner 
a few years later bought a part of this of Mr. Risdon for the 
same purpose. An old, old barn built by Mr. Warner still 
stands back in the field as a sentinel of early miscalculation. 
Mr. Risdon's cabin was on a thirty-rod strip adjoining on the 
east taken from Mr. Hopkins's farm. The ruins of the cellar 
and fireplace may still be seen just over the roadway fence in 
the pasture, as also the shallow well a few rods south in the 
ravine with a stone over it. This now cheerless and dreary 
place was once a home, and that only eighty years ago. 
There three little children first appeared in the clearing, 
romped and played among the stumps and in the bushes, and 
they, too, have followed their parents into eternal and wake- 
less sleep. When we reflect that there in the old pasture over 
that hole in the ground and about that pile of stone once a 
fireplace in form, a good man and dutiful and loving wife 
worked hard to provide for themselves and their own, plain 
and simple in their ways and habits of life, God fearing and 
daily appealing to him for guidance, generous and warm- 
hearted, nursing the sick and unfortunate of the neighborhood 
with that gentle and consoling sympathy which seems to be 
fading away, meeting great trials and hardships with a fortitude 
we do not now know, with joys and sorrows alternating and 
vying with each other, is it not sad that the hearth and rooms 
and walls so dear and sacred in meinory's affectionate regard 
should so soon pass away, disappear, and the very ground be- 
come a pasture field ? 

In viewing these relics of old homes (there are many of 
them about our highways) I cannot help living again, as I see 
it, the life of those who there struggled in the cabin, which is 
sightless and gone like themselves. Possibly it may be ir- 
reverent and wrong, but I cannot keep back the inquiry : 
What does it all mean? What is life, what its object and what 
its purpose ? Since the coming of the pioneers to this primeval 
forest three generations only have appeared, and yet how vague 
and indistinctly we see them. Another century and nothing 
will be known or can be told of them save what may be pre- 



92 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

served in some memoranda or record, and to arrest and 
preserve what is now known and can be gathered is the sole 
purpose of this humble effort. 

Aaron Warner. Mr. Warner's log cabin was near the old 
barn now standing, back in the lot a half mile west of the 
present residence. When the highway was laid out where it 
is he had no way of getting to it, and so purchased a part of 
Mr. Risdon's farm, which took him to the road where he 
built house and barns. On his death the farm passed to his 
sons. Friend and Larned, who divided it, the former taking 
the west part, buying a small parcel of the Seth Abbott farm 
to get to the road, where he built. 'On his death it passed to 
his sons, Clark and Henry, the latter recently purchasing the 
interest of the former. Larned kept the home place, and it is 
now held by his son Stephen. Aaron Warner, 1 learn in 
many ways, was a fine citizen and man and most highly 
respected, as were also his two sons. 

Eli Squire engaged in the smuggling business between 
the settlements and Canada during the War of 1812. He did 
well for a time, but got caught by the sudden termination of 
the war with quite a quantity of cattle, etc., on his hands and 
lost everything he had made and more, as Mr. Zebina Coolidge 
informs me. His house was on the north side of the road, and 
whether where Jerome Squire now lives or a little east I am 
unable to ascertain. He was one of the pioneers of March, 
1803. When Mr. Risdon moved over on the Turnpike in 
1825, Mr. Squire moved into his cabin for a few years as it 
was better than his own. His family and descendants have 
disappeared, except the descendants of his son Asa, who had a 
sawmill in the woods south of Parishville. 

Philip Mosher took the farm across the road from the 
Risdon and Warner farms at an early date, being the Eli 
Squire farm. Charles Benham afterwards held it when Rus- 
sell Squire took it, and on his death it passed to his son 
Jerome, who now holds it. Russell Squire, son of Ashbel, 
built a few rods west on the side hill, house on south side and 
barns on north side of the road. The barns are left, but all 
trace of the house has diaappeared. He moved from here to 
the Mosher place many years since. Mr. Mosher's first farm 
in town adjoined Gaius Sheldon's on the east and situate on 




GEORGE S. WRIGHT RESIDENCE. 




SETH ABBOTT HOUSE, NOW OWNED BY A. G. AND C. R. HOLMES. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 93 

the south side of the road. A Mr. Chubb held it before 
him. 

AsHBEL Squire took up a large tract next west of Eli, 
lying on both sides of the road and extending south to the 
Aaron Warner farm, being lot number twenty-one. The 
farm of Russell Squire was a part of this. He built his log 
cabin near where the present house stands near the brook in 
April and May, 1803. He was one of the first four men to 
settle in town and much is said concerning him in earlier 
chapters. His daughter Laura was the mother of Zebina 
Coolidge, who stoutly affirms that Mrs. Squire was the first 
woman in the town. On his death the farm passed to his son 
Ira and daughters. Laurel Coolidge followed for some thirty 
years, when Charles Macomber became proprietor. On his 
death it passed to his son Frank, who now holds it. 

Seth Abbott took the tract next west of Mr. Squire's 
situate on both sides of the road the same as Mr. Squire's, 
thongh a narrower lot. It was lot number twenty. He built 
his cabin on the east side of the lot close to the brook where 
he lived some years. No trace of it now remains. When 
the land came to be more accurately surveyed his log house 
was found to be on Ashbel Squire's land and so he had to 
abandon it. He then built the present frame house on the 
knoll over near Caleb Wright's. He was one of the earliest 
pioneers and active in town and religious matters. He was 
a shoemaker by trade and followed that more or less in con- 
nection with farming. He was a lame man, using two staffs 
in getting about, which his only surviving child, Mrs. Lucetta 
Peck of Pottsdam, has preserved. He sold the farm to Reu- 
ben Wells, from whom it passed to his sons Amos and Phelps, 

and from them to Jefferson Rowell, and from him to 

Rowell, and from him to A. J. and C. R. Holmes, who now 
own it and lease it. 

History of Schoolhouses in Western District. 

The first schoolhouse in this district was a log building 
and stood between the last house built by Mr. Abbott and 
the road leading north, on rather low ground. No trace of it 
remains and its existence had nearly passed from human mem- 
ory. Mr. George S. Wright can just recall his mother telling 



94 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

him that it stood where I have stated. Joseph B. Durfey 
and Zebina Coolidge also recall the fact of a schoolhouse on 
this corner. Artemus Kent taught school in the " west dis- 
trict " in 1810 and 1811, and at this place. Later, but just 
when I am unable to state, a new frame schoolhouse was built 
eighty rods west on the north side of the road in Mr. Wright's 
field. The tide of emigration and settlement setting west, as 
it always has, this building was abandoned and the present 
stone schoolhouse on the corner near the Durfey place built 
in 1840 at a cost of three hundred dollars. The trustees 
elected April 8, 1839, were Caleb Wright, Phineas Durfey 
and Reuben Wells. At a special meeting held December 7, 

1839, Nathaniel Baldwin was elected in the place of Caleb 
Wright, deceased. It was also voted to take the northeast 
corner of S. C. Remington's farm as a " sight " for the new 
schoolhouse (opposite corner from where it stands). This 
selection of a site was " recalled " at a special meeting held 
December 14, 1839, and the matter "deferred" to Gideon 
Sprague, Thads. Laughlin and Z. Culver. At the adjourned 
meeting held December 24, 1839, it was voted to build on the 
northwest corner of William E. Eastman's farm, present site, 
and to raise five dollars to pay him for the land, to build the 
schoolhouse of stone twenty-five by thirty feet, walls nine feet 
high, and to raise three hundred dollars to pay for said build- 
ing. It was built by Stillman C. Remington. Trustees in 

1840, Phineas Durfey, Reuben Wells and Jonah Sanford. 
Sally E. Mosher taught in the summer of 1840 and received 
ten dollars and eighty-seven cents. The sum of ten dollars 
and eighty-three cents was paid to Hart Lawrence for teaching. 
At a special meeting held in December, 1848, it was voted to 
get one-quarter of a cord of good hard wood per scholar and 
to hire a qualified male teacher. William Newton furnished 
eighteen cords stove wood, two foot, at forty-nine cents per 
cord. Mary Armstrong taught in the summer of 1865. The 
old schoolhouse, built sixty-two years ago, has stood very well, 
as may be seen in the cut, though it was thought best to put 
an iron band about it some years ago. 

Gaius Sheldon came as early as October, 1803, and 
seems at once to have gone off by himself, taking the farm 
known of late years as the Philo A. Davis farm. He was a 
brother of Oliver and Heman Sheldon. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 95 

Caleb Wright purchased the tract next west of Mr. 
Abbott at an early date. He soon got the one hundred acres 
on the opposite side of the road, lot number four, and a 
little later lot number eighteen west, on the north side of 
the road. His log house stood where the tenant house does 
now on north side of road. He built a frame house on the 
south side of the road, precisely where the brick house now 
stands. The log house having gone to wreck, his son, 
George S., in 1857 moved the frame house across the road 
to where the log house stood, which is still in use. In the 
same year he built the fine brick residence in which he and 
daughter now reside, a cut of which is given. At an early 
date an effort was made to continue the north road south 
across Wright's farm to the Turnpike, but Mr. Wright de- 
feated it as it would injure or destroy a spring. George S. is 
the sole survivor of the children of Caleb, and holds the old 
farm intact, his daughter, Rosa L., living with him. 

Benjamin Harwood took up a tract on the north side of 
the road, opposite Samuel Eastmen's, at an early date, lot 
number eighteen, and had a log cabin there, of which no 
trace remains. The well has been filled. He had three 
small children. His wife sickened and died and, becoming 
disheartened, he sold out to Caleb Wright and left the town. 

Samuel Eastman took up two hundred acres just west of 
Caleb Wright, on south side of road, as early as the spring of 
1804. His log house stood in the dooryard a little west and 
north of the present residence. He built the front part of 
the present house. The diary of Mr. Risdon speaks of the 
raising of the same, June 15, 1815. The farm passed to his 
son William and the east half, or part, is held by his son 
Samuel E. The north end of the west part is now owned by 
John Leach and the south end by Silas H. Sanford. (See 
pioneer records for a fuller sketch of him, and see Eastman for 
picture of house.) 

Phineas Durfey was at least in town as early as March 
18, 1805. His account opens with the purchase of twenty 
pounds of bread and a bushel of wheat. They settled all 
accounts, December 20, 1806, and there was found due Mr. 
Hopkins, a balance on lands, the sum of I209. He took 
lot number seventeen, on north side of road, and a strip off 



96 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

the east side of lot number sixteen. Soon after the road was 
cut through to Potsdam and there was some travel over it, he 
opened an inn. After a while he had three log cabins a little 
east of the present stone house, which latter he built in 1828, 
a cut of which is given. The celebrated " Old Grimes " was 
an occasional guest with Mr. Durfey. His son, Joseph B., 
born in 181 1, now living, was the first child born in town 
after the coming of Dr. Gideon Sprague. He took the farm 

on the death of his father, and sold to Aikins, and on his 

death it passed to his son Samuel, who now holds it. 

Thomas Remington came in April, 1804, and settled for 
a year or so north of the late residence of Joel Goodell. It 
must have been on the Moses farm or near it. Possibly Sam- 
uel Goodell had already gone up on the Turnpike, and he 
went into his cabin. He soon moved to a place on the road 
to Gaius Sheldon's and then to the tract across the road from 
Phineas Durfey, lot number seven. His cabin then stood a 
little west of south from the Durfey stone residence. While 
getting out timber he was killed by a falling tree in 18 19. 
The farm passed into the hands of his son, Stillman C, then 
to Mr. Asa Miller, then to Mr. Frank Williams, then to 
George Bushnell, son of Simeon of Lawrence, then to Sidney 
Taggart, who sold to George S. Wright, and he to Ira G. 
Preston, and he to Michael, John and Dennis Hourihan, who 
recently sold to G. H. Morgan. 

Samuel Abbott, born in 1792, married Haddassa Post, six 
years his senior, in 18 14, and moved on to the tract after- 
wards held by Elisha Risdon on the Turnpike. A Mr. Rock- 
well first took it up, as I learn from an old map of Mr. Hop- 
kins. Probably Mr. Abbott bought his betterments. The 
autobiography of his son. Rev. Gideon S., states that his 
father first settled about a mile west of Hopkinton village. 
This place is a little south of west, but applies to it very well 
in distance and direction. Mrs. Harriet Adsltof Perry, Ohio, 
the sole survivor of the children of Samuel B., states that her 
father lived there in a log house and that her two brothers 
and a sister older than herself and a sister younger, Sarah E., 
born in 1822, were born at this place. He sold his rights to 
his brother-in-law, Elisha Risdon, about 1824 or 1825, when 
he moved to the farm next west of Phineas Durfev, where he 




PHINKA.S hl]kl'l;i IIOIy.,K. 

B7H7/ ill i8z8. 




SCHOOLHOUSE IN DURFEV DISTRICT. 
Built in T840. 




SAMUEL B. ABBOTT HOUSE, NOW OWNED BY JOHN LEACH. 




JOSEPH DURFEY HOUSE, NOW OWNED BY HERMAN FISHER. 
Built in 1826. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 97 

had built a small frame house. Some years later he built the 
house some forty rods west, a cut of which is given. The 
east fifty acres of the farm went to his son Reuben, and from 
him to Rev. Gideon S., and from him to Charles Macomber, 
and from him to John Aikins, who now owns it. The west 
part of the farm was sold to Silas H. Leach, from whom it 
passed to his son John, the present owner. 

Joseph Durfey's account opens October 20. No year is 
given. The account contains but a few entries. The next 
date is November 3, 1806. Between the date of October 20 
and that of November 3 is a credit for labor of sixty-one dol- 
lars, from which it is evident that the first date must have been 
October 20, 1805, since he could hardly have earned sixty-one 
dollars from October 20 to November 3, 1806. He built a 
log house a tew rods west of the present residence of Herman 
Fisher, in which five of his seven children were born. He 
built the present frame house about 1825, a cut of which is 
given. He moved to Troy, Ohio, in 1836. Mr. George S. 
Wright says he had the reputation of being as honest a man 
as there was in town and his daughter Alice (now Mrs. Flum- 
merfelt of Grand Rapids, Mich.) as handsome a young miss 
as the town could boast. Alanson Fisher owned the farm for 

many years and died there in , when it passed to his son 

Herman. 

William M. Humphrey had a blacksmith shop in early 
times for some years near the east bounds of Joseph Durfey's 
farm, southwesterly across the road from John Leach's resi- 
dence. The foundation of the shop may still be traced. 
Some of the timbers are in the highway fence. He sold out 
in 1840 or thereabout and went west. Nothing has since 
been heard of him. Eben Squire took the tract on south 
side of road next west of Mr. Durfey, lot number nine. I 
notice by the old map of Mr. Hopkins that it was taken up 
by a Mr. Wilson. It was first deeded to Elisha Risdon. 
Squire sold to Orman Beecher, who resided there for many 
years. The place is now owned by John Leach. The house 
is tenantless and fast going into dissolution. 

David Covey first settled some twenty rods west of John 
Leach where he built a log house, and afterwards three- 
quarters of a mile west, where Michael Conner now resides. 



98 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

No trace of either log house remains. The well at the first 
place can, I hear, be located yet. Mr. Covey first took up 
eighty acres on the Madrid road in Potsdam. He soon sold 
to Myron Buttolph. Oscar Buttolph now holds it. He 
then took up the eighty acres adjoining this on the south 
where Leslie Robinson resides. There was only a trail road 
through there at this time. His son, Gilbert H., born in 
1805, was the first male child born in Potsdam. Norton F. 
Thomas lived in that neighborhood and learned these particu- 
lars. His daughter Julia married Carlos Humphrey, who 
had a blacksmith shop at Fort Jackson, and another, Amanda, 
who married Aaron Vanderker. I have found it impossible 
to get any trace of either. Mr. Covey and wife both died at 
this place, as I learn from the diary. The farm has been in 
many hands since his death. (See sketch in records of 
pioneers.) 

Eason Bachellor settled on a seventy-nine acre lot, 
number ten, the last farm on south side of the road in the 
town. He married Sophronia Eastman, daughter of Samuel, 
who died in 1839, for want of proper medical treatment, in 
childbirth. His second wife was Lucina Gray. They went 
to Chilton, Wis. (See Abijah Chandler family.) His brother- 
in-law, Roswell H. Eastman, afterwards lived there for a 
time. The foundation walls, pit for cellar and chimney ruins 
are still to be seen. The barn built by him is still standing 
and in use. 

Settlement of the Turnpike Southwest to the Parishville Bounds. 

Reuben Post came to town in 1804, but his family did 
not till the next year. He purchashed Mechanic Lot num- 
ber eight, which was a strip of land from Chittenden's store 
east one hundred and sixty rods, and about twenty rods deep 
north. This was called his " home lot," as I learn from the 
draft of the deed, by Mr. Hopkins, of the village Green, in 
1809. He took title to this and a hundred-acre tract imme- 
diately south of EHphalet Brush's farm, September 15, 1804. 
In 1808 he bought the present Truman Post farm of Joseph 
Armstrong. The old map of Mr. Hopkins shows that this 
tract was first " booked " to Isaac Sheldon. Undoubtedly, 
Mr. Armstrong bought his betterments. Mr. Sheldon did 




TRUMAN E. POST RESIDENCE. 
House built by Reuben Post in jSog or 1810 in backgromid. 




ASAHEL KENT E. HARMON RISDON RESIDENCE. 

Now that of Royal Smith. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 99 

not stay in town long. Mr. Armstrong also at once pur- 
chased a strip on the north, thirty rods in width, off the west 
side of Mr. Hopkins's tract, and adjoining Mr. Risdon on 
the east, to enable him to get from his farm to the Potsdam 
road, which was then the only road he could reach, the Turn- 
pike not having been cut out till i 809. On the north end of 
this strip, and on the road, a log cabin was built, in all prob- 
ability by Mr. Armstrong. Mr. Truman Post is quite cer- 
tain that his grandfather did not move to this cabin, but built 
a small frame house at once on the cutting out of the Turn- 
pike and moved directly to it. This cabin is still standing and 
occupied by the tenant. It can be faintly seen in the back- 
ground of the picture of Truman Post's residence. Mr. Ris- 
don married Amanda, daughter of Reuben Post, in August, 
181 1, and moved into the log house on the Potsdam road, 
where he lived till 1825. Mr. Armstrong, on selling out, 
left town and I get no trace of him. 

Reuben Post, Sr., was one of the most active and public- 
spirited men in town. He was killed by the falling of a 
staging while building the old stone schoolhouse in 1815, an 
account of which is given by Messrs. Risdon and Kent in 
their diaries. 

Artemus Kent took up thirty acres, the west part of 
lot number forty-one, on south side of Turnpike, across the 
road, or southeasterly of the Reuben Post residence, in 1 809, 
which he developed into a fine farm. The present house and 
most of the buildings were built by him. Mrs. Mary 
Chittenden, widow of Asahel, purchased it about 1870, and 
she and family held it for a time. It is now owned by G. T. 
Smith. 

John Hoit, whose account opened in 1807, must be the 
same John Hoit who a few years later settled in Parishville 
and married Polly Green, sister of Mrs. Judge Sanford, the 
father and mother of Joel and Loyal Hoit, late of Parishville. 
I do not learn where he lived in Hopkinton or that he ever 
took title to any land in the town. He was one of the charter 
members in the organization of the Baptist Church in the 
schoolhouse near Caleb Wright's, September 10, 1808. 

Ira Smith, who married Lucy, daughter of Reuben Post, 
built the small house across the road from Mr. Post's. A 

L.ofC. 



loo EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

little flatiron piece of Mr. Post's farm crossed the road, and 
it was on this that he built. The place was afterwards held 
by Cornelius Winne, and is still called the Winne place. Mr. 
Smith moved into Stockholm and from there in 1841 to 
Dresden, Ohio, and from there in 1850 to Reedsburg, Wis., 
where several of his descendants reside. 

Job Greene took title to the south half or part of lot 
number forty-three, situate on the north side of the road, 
and next west of Reuben Post's farm, in 1806. It took in 
the Big Hollow and extended west on the Sanford road some 
forty rods. The grandfather of Henry C. Greene, who settled 
on the Loren Smith farm in 18 17, was Job Greene, and I am 
disposed to believe that it was he who took up this lot. He 
conveyed the lot of forty-five acres to Rufus Grossman, 
August 13, 1 8 10, and he to Asahel Kent, March 7, 1829. 
Mr. Grossman's name does not appear in the census of 1814 
or 1 82 1, nor do I meet it elsewhere. There are still some 
stumps of apple trees on the north side of the road just west 
of the Big Hollow. Mrs. David Daggett, who was a daugh- 
ter of Henry C. Greene, has a very faint recollection of there 
being a log house there and of being told that her father 
stopped there for a time when he first came in. Mrs. Harriet 
(Abbott) Adsit, born across the road in 1820, has no recol- 
lection of even seeing the ruins of or of hearing of a log 
cabin at this place. However, I have a notion that Job 
Greene built his cabin there. He had dealings with Mr. Hop- 
kins in 1 807, and is put down as a freeholder that year. 

Elisha Risdon, who married Amanda, daughter of 
Reuben Post, moved over from the Potsdam road to the farm 
just west of the Big Hollow in 1824 or 1825. Plis brother- 
in-law, Samuel B. Abbott, lived there in a log house on the 
south side of the road from 18 14 to the time of sale to Mr. 
Risdon. He bought lots sixty-six, sixty-five and a few acres 
in the northeast corner of sixty-four, on which to build and 
get to the road. The old maps show that lot sixty-five was 
first booked to D. Sanford, who I feel sure was Judge San- 
ford's brother, though he never lived there. Lot sixty-four 
was booked first to Silas Lamb and one Rockwell. Mr. 
Risdon was the first to take title to the farm which extended 
east to the Peck road. Mr. Risdon built a small frame house 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. loi 

there in 1829 or 1830, as I learn from the fragment of a letter 
to his father in Richmond, N. Y., written February 19, 1831. 
After speaking ot his poor health he wrote, viz. : 

I attend to my cattle. I am wintering a horse, a yoke of oxen, eight 
cows, ten yearlings, six calves. I believe I have mentioned in a former letter 
that I had built a small frame house, which is much more comfortable and con- 
venient than our old log house. 

The only frame house he ever had was on his place on 
the Turnpike, and this letter is proof that he built it. In- 
ferentially it is also proof that prior to building it he had 
lived there in a log house. 

No one living can recall the old log cabin or even its 
ruins. He made several additions to the frame house and 
built several barns just south. On his death it passed to his 
son, E. Harmon, who lived there a few years when he moved 
to the Asahel Kent place in the fork of the roads, where he 
continued till 1870, when he went to Webster City, la. His 
sister Mary, widow of A. H. Chittenden, lived on the old 
place some years following i860. The house and all the 
barns were taken down some twenty years ago. The ruins of 
the cellar and old fireplace over the wall just back of the door- 
yard trees are plain to be seen. 

AsAHEL Kent bought and built on the point made by 
the junction of the Sanford road with the Turnpike in about 
1 8 14. He was a brother of Artemus in the village and of 
Moses a little west on the Sanford road. He married for 
his second wife Mrs. Charlotte Sheals, the mother of John 
and William Sheals, Mrs. Harmon Risdon, Mrs. Stephen 
Wescott and Mrs. Porter Robinson. His farm was the 
hundred acres on the north side of the road first taken up 
by David French to which he, Kent, got title January 30, 
1814 and forty-five acres of Job Greene. The house and its 
additions finally reached nearly across the point to the San- 
ford road. Mr. E. Harmon Risdon moved over there under 
an agreement to care for him and have the farm, which he 
did.- Mr. Risdon sold the farm in 1870 to Mr. V. A. Chit- 
tenden, and he to George Smith. It is now held by Royal 
Smith, his son. 



I02 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Westerly Part of Turnpike. 

I have found it impossible to learn the first settlers of many 
of the farms with certainty, along the west part of the Turn- 
pike. The maps of the Short Tract do not in many cases give 
the same name as owner as do the records at the county 
clerk's office, from which fact it is apparent that names of 
settlers were placed on the map who did not succeed in be- 
coming owners. There are many vacant old houses or rather 
holes in the ground where once were homes along the road- 
side, due no doubt largely to the great deterioration of the 
soil, some of which has become a desolate waste. I get a 
good part of the history of this road from John A. Harran 
and Mr. and Mrs. Fullom M. Corwin. 

Henry C. Greene, a brother of Mrs. Judge Sanford, 
took up the front part of what are known as the Loren and 
George Smith farms on the south side of the road next west of 
the Elisha Risdon farm and also all of the tract between the 
Sanford road and Turnpike west to the Joel Peck farm, except- 
ing one acre and a half, the very point of such tract which 
was taken by Asahel Kent. He had in all one hundred and 
sixty-three acres, and he took title in 1817. His first home 
was a log house which he built. He later built the present 
house or the main upright part. His wife " put out " two 
sticks in the yard which took root and became great poplar 
trees. He deeded the west part of that between the two 
roads to Stephen R. Witherell, excepting six acres in the 

southwest corner which went to Mr. Peck. On May 

8, 1832, he conveyed the two Smith farms and what lay be- 
tween the two roads north of them to Hosea Brooks, father 
of Erasmus D., late of Potsdam. Mr. Brooks sold to Josiah 
Smith in about 1833, though I notice he deeded to Darius E. 
Kent in 1841. However, Mr. Smith held it and finally 
owned it. On his death his son Loren took the west part 
of the farm and buildings where he has ever since lived, and 
his son George took the east part where he built and lived 
till his death. Meribah, daughter of Mr. Greene, who be- 
came Mrs. David Daggett, born in 181 5, is living with her 
daughter, Mrs. Vance in Potsdam, and is a bright and kindly 
old lady indeed. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 103 

Stephen R. Witherell, as already stated, took, the next 
farm west, buying that part of the farm on the north side of 
the road, where were his buildings, from Mr. Greene. The 
farm has been in his family ever since, though rented for some 
years, and is now owned by his son Edwin. The next habi- 
tation was a little west on the south side of the road in the 
hollow near the brook, all trace of which is long since gone. 
I do not learn who lived there. 

Julius Peck took the lot next west of Mr. Witherell on 
north side, where he built a sawmill which was in use for some 
years. He died some forty years ago. His widow married 
a Julius Peck, who is now an old man and blind. The old 
mill has gone sadly into decay. 

The Old Red Schoolhoose. 

The old red schoolhouse stood and stands just across the 
brook, a few rods west and on the north side. It was built, 
as 1 learn from the diary, in the spring of 1848 by Lyman 
Page of Nicholville. For many years it had a good attend- 
ance, with often a select school in the fall. Religious services 
were often held there also. The first schoolhouse, according 
to the best information I get, was of log and stood a little 
west and on the south side of the road, at or near the top of 
the hill. Mrs. Lucetta (Abbott) Peck of Potsdam taught 
school there, but cannot say further than that it was a log 
building. A slab seat or bench was against the wall on three 
sides of the room, sawed side up, with a slab, sawed side up, 
for a desk. Mrs. Edna Crosley attended there when a child 
and gives me these particulars. Religious services were held 
in this old schoolhouse more or less for years. 

Isaac Snell took up the tract across the road from the 
schoolhouse, with his house a little back from the road. The 
farm passed to his son Milton, and is now owned by J. K. 
Rhoades. He was a blacksmith and had his shop on the 
road opposite the schoolhouse, near the brook, with a frame 
outside for lifting oxen for shoeing. 

Ebenezer Squire had a log cabin just west of the school- 
house on the north side. Reuben Peck lived there after him 
and also Asa Moore, who lost his leg. Whether Mr. Squire 



104 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

was the first I cannot say. Nothing is left of the habitation 
now. 

Simeon Young Hved a little west on the south side in a 
log cabin. He was followed by Porter Pierce and he by Asa 
Murray. 

Albert S. Harran took the next tract west on south 
side in 1B34, where he built a log house and later a frame 
one. It passed to his son John A., and from him to Arthur 
Sampler, who now owns it. John A. Harran some thirty 
years ago bought the Hopkins farm on the south side of the 
road in Hopkinton village. He was a large, intelligent man 
and in every way a good neighbor and citizen. He suddenly 
died in his home in the summer of 1902. 

David Fisk had a log house across the road from Mr. 
Harran. George Wilkinson, who was a tailor, lived there after 
Mr. Fisk. His daughter Hannah married Sumner Sweet of 
Nicholville. His other children were Martha, who married 
Mr. Alonzo Rhoades ; William of Nicholville, and George, 
who was lame and died ; Mary, who married Porter Pierce ; 
Harriet, brought up by Dr. Sprague, married a Mr. Williams 
of Vermont. Mr. Harran bought the farm. 

John Leach, father of David, took a tract in 1835 next 
west of Mr. Harran on south side, where he had a log house, 
all trace of which has gone. 

Samuel Clark had a log house on the north side and a 
little west of John Leach. The Naylor family lived there after 
Mr. Clark, though Mr. Naylor only came nowand then. They 
were followed by Rufus Greene, who, I learn from the records, 
took title. He had a large family of bright children. They 
were, so far as I learn, William, Ira, Jane, who married Darius 
E. Kent; Mary, who married John Leach, Jr.; Robert and 
Melvin. David Leach acquired the farm and lived there till 
his recent death. It is now held by his widow, with Carlos 
Colton in charge. 

RuFus Greene came from , Vt., and took the 

tract next west of John Leach on the south side. His 
wife was Jane Wood, and they had nine children: viz., Pliny, 
who died in California ; Jane, who married Darius E. Kent in 
1842; Melville, who died at Racine, Wis. ; William, Lucius, 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 105 

Ira, who died In Missouri; Charles, who died in California; 
Mary, who married John Leach and now lives at Havana, 
N. D.; and Robert, who died at Racine, Wis. All are dead 
except Mary. William S. Howe bought it in 1848. He 
lived for a time in a log house. It was so old and cold that 
he spent several winters in the house in Hopkinton village 
which he had first bought. After a time he built the present 
buildings which stand back from the road. He sold out 
some thirty-five years ago when he built a brick residence in 
Parishville village where he now resides. His children were 
and are Daniel, of Wichita, Kan. ; and Ella (Mrs. P. H.Smith), 
of Brooklyn, N. Y. Nelson Gardner and JefF Rowell have 
held it since. 

Jesse Moon took the tract next west on south side. He 
sold to John Smith, who acquired the first title. It passed to 
his son Josiah, and is now held by John Ramo. Mr. Moon 
and Nanthaniel Baldwin built a sawmill on the rear end of the 
farm, which was run for some years with indifferent success 
owing to a shortage of water. 

Lewis Richardson had a log house on the north side, a 
little west of Mr. Smith. David Leach lived there at first 
before buying the place next east. Nothing remains to de- 
note its once existence, and the land about is cheerless indeed. 

Barney Moon had a log house on the south side, just 
over the " Pinnacle," which the rise of ground at this point 
was called. I see that D. E. Kent got the first title. He 
sold to John Cutler, who built the present frame house. In 
digging his well he had to go down fifty-two feet to reach 
water. His children were, so far as I learn, Emma (Mrs. 
John A. Harran of Hopkinton), Marilla (Mrs. Roswell An- 
drews), Silas, deceased, and Harlon of . The place is 

now held by Silas Rockwood. 

William G. Richardson took title to seventy-nine acres 
across the road which is now pretty nearly a sand waste. He 
died there and the buildings have all gone. 

Willard Smith took the place west of Mr. Cutler and 
of the road leading south. Amasa Hurlbut took the first 
title to it. George Kimball also lived on it for a time, when 
Dyer Hazen bought it years ago and now holds it. 



io6 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Joseph Brownell took a contract to the tract across the 
road in 1827. His cabin stood near the brook. I learn from 
the diary of February 11, 1837, that Mr. Brownell sold to 
Mr. Wing, and he to Jacob R. Norris, and he to John Mof- 
fit. Mr. Norris married Mrs. Rhoda Wing and went to Ohio, 
where he died. Mr. Moffit was considerable of a preacher 
and belonged to the sect called Christians. Nothing is left of 
the old home. 

E N. HoBABT was the first to take a contract of what 



for sixty years has been known as the Hazen farm. I feel sure 
that Deacon Abiel M. Hobart lived there also, though I do 
not know what he was to him. He sold out to Jehiel Austin, 
a Methodist minister, who took the first title to the farm lying 
on both sides of the road. The diary speaks of Mr. Austin 
paying on contract taken out by Mr. Hobart. Mr. Austin 
built the present stone house in 1847 or 1848. He sold the 
place to Jedediah Hazen. On his death his son Owen held it 
for some years. It is now held by his son-in-law, John Conlin. 

SchoolhouEe in Hazen District. 

In 1850 and prior and later a frame schoolhouse stood in 
the corner made by the road leading north and on the east 
side of that road. I can remember of going to school there 
when quite young, and of how coarse, rough and tyrannical 
were some of the boys a little older than myself. They fre- 
quently stole my dinner and would eat it, or a good part of it, 
in my presence, and then jeer and laugh at my tears and bit- 
terness. And yet some people maintain that we come into 
the world divine and good, and that all our meanness and dev- 
iltry are acquired. There has been no school there in many 
years and the building long since disappeared. 

Digfgingf for Gold under a Spell. 

Somewhere about 1850 some half dozen men in this 
neighborhood somehow got it into their heads that there was 
a large quantity of gold or silver, I forget which, buried a few 
rods down and on the east side of this road leading north. 
They met there at divers times and faithfully and patiently 
dug for it in that stony soil. They had the delusion that if 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 107 

any one should speak after they had begun and while dig- 
ging, that the treasure would vanish and ail their hopes be 
blasted. My father, happening by one day while they were 
at work, and knowing the solemn injunction under which they 
labored, and looking upon it as ridiculous, determined to 
break the spell by making one of them speak. He sat in 
the buggy and watched them digging just over the road fence 
for a moment when, calling one of them by name, he said, 
" Your wife wants to know if you are coming home to din- 
ner." Forgetting himself, he replied, " Yes, right away." At 
this all the men with sad and solemn mien shouldered their 
tools and left for their homes. Father guyed and laughed at 
them, as only he could do it, but they heeded him not. It 
was mighty serious business with them. Isn't it strange and 
singular what delusions possess us every now and then, nine- 
teen hundred years after Christ's coming ? Somehow the 
human mind seems capable of, or should I say prone to, 
strange and even wild hallucinations. 

Lemuel Lewis built a log cabin on the north side in the 
hollow near the old mill pond. Many others occupied it as 
tenants, among them a Mr. Frank Lashua. It stood till 
1870 or thereabouts. The gate was here leading to the saw- 
mill a httle back and a few rods down the brook. The mill 
was built by Judge Sanford in about 1848 and run until i860 
or a little later. His son Jonah bought it and the land about 
and run the mill to a very limited extent. 

An Expedience with an Unbotind Load of Lumber. 

I can remember going there to get some lumber when a 
small boy with quite a spirited team. I am sure it was in 
1 86 1, which would make me fourteen past. My brother 
Silas was my assistant. The last load was a small one, con- 
sisting of boards, plank and scantling, and as a shower came 
up we hurried away without binding them, thinking they 
would ride all right. They did for the first half of the dis- 
tance home, as the road was sandy, keeping the tugs taut and 
the horses forward and away from the lumber. On getting 
down to the Gideon S. Abbott place (now Orman Beecher) 
the road became harder and the decline greater. In holding 
the horses back the off one frisked greatly and I saw at once 



io8 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

the trouble. The loose plank and scantling had rattled about 
and worked ahead so that they touched the horses when held 
back. I was then on a stony, gentle decline and did not 
dare to hold them up. At the foot of this I could see a few 
rods of a level stretch of sand and at the other end of it a 
very sharp, short drop in the road. Instantly I saw that our 
only salvation rested in stopping them while in the sand. 
Silas was sitting on the hinder end of the load riding back- 
wards and holding on as best he could to the bobbing scant- 
ling. I was standing, fearfully alarmed, and excitedly called 
out to him to jump oft" as soon as we reached the sand and 
to run and catch the off horse by the bit. He jumped off 
and that was all. Not seeing him pass me as I neared the 
steep decline I looked back and there he sat by the road- 
side pulling off" his boots. Over and down the hill I went, 
the oft" horse kicking furiously and the team running at a mad 
pace. As he kicked he would hit a scantling or plank which 
sent the front end of them high in the air and falling outside 
the front wheel with the end in the ground and the other end 
on the hind axle, filled the air as you can readily see with 
plank and scantling. Presently, and quicker than I can write 
it, only one plank was left of the load. Seeing no earthly 
use of remaining longer I sat on my feet that I might the 
better spring, and selecting a grass patch by the roadside, 
jumped for it. I went rolling in the air and not understanding 
the force imparted to a body leaving another swiftly moving, 
I landed in a mass of stone instead of the grass plat I had 
selected. The team went on some distance when the off 
horse outran the nigh, turning him into the ditch and over a 
large bowlder and on to his head, from which position he 
could not extricate himself. Limping and crying, for I was 
hurt, I got back into the road and waited for Silas, who was 
coming on the run, barefoot, with the big finger of each hand 
in the strap of a boot. Down the road we could see the 
team piled up. Reaching me, notwithstanding my sobbing 
and tears, I sternly asked, " Why did you stop to take off 
your boots ? " " So I could run faster," was his curt reply. 
That was an idea surely enough, but he did not go far enough 
in his reasoning. We hurried on, and after much trouble 
got the horses free, each leading a horse home and with heavy 
hearts indeed. Seeing us coming, father came out to meet us 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 109 

and after full explanation our reprimand for not binding the 
load was very mild considering that the nigh horse had a stiff 
fore leg ever after. No doubt his great gratification at our 
escape softened his criticism. 

The next habitation was a log house at the top of the hill 
on the south side which at last has become a wreck. It had 
a great many tenants, and among them Asa Newton, who 
died there, Nathaniel Baldwin, Jr., Washington Bessey, etc. 

Samuel Sanford lived on the next place with house on 
the south side. Whether he was the first to reside there I 
cannot say, nor do I know anything of him. I do not think 
he was in anywise related to Judge Sanford. Jonah Sanford, 
Jr., bought the farm and moved on to it in the spring, I feel 
sure, of 1848, where he lived five or six years and got some- 
thing of a start. It has had several occupants since and is 
now owned by Thomas Conlin. 

RoLLiN O. Sanford built a house on the tract of his 
father next west in about 1862. Fie enlisted from there in 
1863 and died in Andersonville Prison. The foundation 
walls only are left. 

D. P. Rose, according to Mr. Short's map, took up the 
next lot west, known as the Milo Adams place. Since he left 
it, some thirty years or more ago, it has had various tenants. 
The house burned and the land is owned by Mr. Conlin. 
The schoolhouse for this neighborhood stands in the south- 
west corner of the farm and near the road leading north. 

Lyman Oliver lived just west of the north and south 
road and on the north side of the Turnpike. After him 
Carlisle Adams. Since his occupancy it has had many 
holders. 

John Hart had a log cabin across the road on the south 
side. His wife was a good carder and weaver. The diary 
often speaks of going there for cloth and work in that line. 
After him came William Oliver, who built a frame house a 
little farther west. The old log house long since disappeared. 

Hiram Peck, father of the late Comer M. Peck of Pots- 
dam, bought fifty acres on north side of Turnpike, last farm 
in town, now held by Mrs. D. S. Howe, and moved there 
about 1 817. He was a colonel in the War of the Revolu- 



no EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

tion and was at one time a man of means. He lost it and 
moved to Hopkinton. He died there January 28, 1831. 
His son, C. Harper, born in 1804, went to Prescott and en- 
gaged in the drug business and became wealthy. Hiram H. 
was a merchant in Potsdam for years, and died in Bingham- 
ton in January, 1900, quite wealthy. John W., born on this 
farm November 17, i 8 1 9, was a lame man. He taught school 
in the Caleb Wright district and then went to Kentucky, 
where he engaged in the distillery business and became very 
rich. He is still living. Comer M. was born there March 
18, 1822, and died at Potsdam, October 16, 1900. These 
four boys made it pay to leave the " family nest." 

Settlement of the Middle or Sanford Road from the Turnpike 
West. 

David French, whose account with Mr. Hopkins opened 
March 29, 1804, was the father of the late Ira T. French of 
Potsdam. He took up one hundred acres, lot forty-four, on 
the " Sanford road," north side, next westerly of Mr. Greene. 
His grandson, Charles T. French, says he came into Hop- 
kinton in 1803, and made a little clearing when, tiring of it 
for some reason, he left it, wending his way through the forest 
to Potsdam, then just being settled. He very soon took up 
a tract about midway between Potsdam and Canton, where he 
settled and prospered. His deed of Hopkinton land is dated 
in 1803. I am confident that no building, other than a 
shanty, was ever erected on it. I give this, as the so-called 
histories do not mention his first settling in Hopkinton, and 
are quite indefinite as to when he settled in Potsdam. From 
this I take it he was in Hopkinton in 1803 and 1804 and 
probably a good part of 1805. Mr. French conveyed the lot 
to Asahel Kent, January 30, 18 14, and he conveyed the west 
forty rods of it, forty acres, to Samuel Abbott, January 7, 
18 19. It has been held for many years and is still held by 
the Warner family. 

Orin Andrews took the north part of the tract next 
westerly of Mr. Greene, lot number sixty-two, and the east 
part of lot forty-five, next west of David French. The old 
map of Mr. Hopkins gives Nathan Peck as the first taker 
of lot number sixty-two, but E. W. Abbott, Esq., of 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. iii 

Gouverneur, and George S. Wright, Esq., are very positive 
that he settled on the next lot west, number sixty-one. This 
map also shows that lot forty-five was first "booked" to 
Samuel B. Abbott, who gave it up or sold his betterments to 
Mr. Andrews. The latter's log cabin stood on the north side 
of the road between the present barn and the brook. No 
trace of it remains. He later built the present house on the 
south side of the road. The diary speaks of his wife's 
death, in 1 842, as a peculiarly sad one. Mr. Andrews's mother 
was the eldest sister of Mrs. Judge Sanford. Reuben H. 
Freeman, Esq., an ocean sea captain, married his daughter 
Martha, who was a teacher in Mobile, Ala., where he met 
her. She brought him to this farm, where they settled and 
lived for many years. He was a bright, well-read man and a 
much better talker than farm worker. He had been so long 
on the water that he chafed and fretted with the confinement 
of farming. He took the wrong side in the Civil War, or at 
least he found great fault with Lincoln and his management, 
which got him into many hot and bitter encounters with his 
townsmen. 

I recall one with my grandfather. Judge Sanford, in the 
road as he was driving by. They were both great talkers, 
though Mr. Freeman was a little the more glib. The Judge 
was a most ardent Lincoln man and war advocate and could 
not brook much criticism or opposition to a prosecution of 
the war. Finally they got so warmed up and excited that the 
Captain said that if he (the Judge) was not so old a man he 
would twist his nose for him. The Judge, old as he was, knew 
no such thing as fear and immediately got out of his buggy 
and challenged him to do it. The wordy contest went on, but 
the Captain had too much sense in the propriety of things to 
attack so old a man. He was a well-informed man, and I 
used to listen to him with much interest on all topics except 
that of the war. He sold the farm in about 1870 to Jonah 
Sanford and went to Fergus Falls, Minn., where he died re- 
cently. The farm has since had several tenants and would-be 
purchasers, until recently purchased by Edwin Witherell. 

Moses Kent settled on a small farm next westerly, just 
across the brook on north side of the road, being the west part 
of lot forty-five. It was in no wise an extra farm in size or 
soil, and yet his son, Darius E., who acquired it on his father's 



112 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

death, became one of the richest men ever raised in town. His 
success is a fine example of what can be accompHshed by thrift 
and economy. He was a tall, slender man, quiet and pleasant, 
a little courtly in bearing and demeanor. Only one man was 
ever known to get the better of him in a deal, and that was a 
slick street fakir in Potsdam village, who sold him when living 
there two plated lockets at ten dollars each, worth probably a 
quarter of a dollar each. He settled in Westfield, N. Y., where 
he died March a, 1886. Mr. Kent sold the farm to Hazen 
Corwin, father of Fullom M., and he to his son-in-law, Israel 
Putnam, and he to Sidney Briggs, who married his sister 
Lucinda, and from their estate it passed to James Cotter, the 
present owner. 

Seth Putnam came in about 1809 with his all in a pack 
on his back, and not long after took the tract next westerly of 
the Kent farm on the north side of the road, lot number forty- 
six, where he built a log house. On cominginto town he worked 
a few years for Mr. Plopkins. It was then all about a practi- 
cally unbroken forest. He and Judge Sanford were fast friends 
and had many interesting discussions on politics and religion. 
He built the present house and lived till September, 1864. 
On his death the farm passed to his son Israel, who died in 
1874. It has since been held by his widow, Jane (Corwin) 
Rockwell, occupied by Fullom Corwin, Lewis Putnam, and was 
sold by her in 1902 to John Corwin. 

Nathan Peck took up the tract across the road from Mr. 
Putnam at an early date, where he built a log house. E. W. 
Abbott of Gouverneur, George S. Wright and Zebina Coolidge 
so inform me. He moved from there to the " Peck road." 
The old map of Mr. Hopkins has his name on the lot next 
east, number sixty-two, but these men are agreed that the lot 
he settled on was directly opposite that of Mr. Putnam. 

Schoolhoose in Sanford District. 

The first schoolhouse in this district was a log building 
and stood on the north side of the road near the east bounds 
of Seth Putnam's farm, some fifty rods east of the present 
house. A road was laid out from a point in the highway near 
this schoolhouse in 1832, south on the west bounds of Orrin 
Andrews's and east bounds of Judge Sanford's farms to the 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 113 

Turnpike, but I do not learn that it was built nor are there any 
indications that it was. Mr. George S. Wright tells me that 
he went south across the fields a mile to this school in about 
1835, that Permelia Sanford (iVIrs. Brooks) attended at the 
same time ; that one morning while the teacher was at prayers 
with her head in a chair, Permelia took off her coarse shoes 
and creeping across the room pinched another girl's ear, creat- 
ing much amusement, and yet got back to her seat unknown 
to the teacher. Some years later, but just when cannot now 
be learned, probably about 1850, a new, small frame school- 
house was built on the north side of the road, on the Merrill 
farm and on the east bank of the brook near the residence of 
Judge Sanford. This was quite a school for some years, hav- 
ing an attendance of over twenty scholars in the winter term. 
The writer attended school here for some years, and he re- 
members Adaline Sheldon, Edna Risdon and Miss Desmond 
as teachers. In about 1880, the scholars becoming so few, the 
district or a large part of it was united with the Durfey dis- 
trict. The old schoolhouse was sold, used for a barn for a 
time, when it was taken down or burned when the creamery 
standing just across the brook west was destroyed, some years 
ago. A new creamery was built by Silas H. Sanford on the 
site of the old one, which is still in use. 

Benjamin Sanford, Jr., a brother of Judge Sanford, took 
title to the west half of lot number sixty-one, opposite 
Mr. Putnam, in 1830. The log house built by Mr. Peck 
or Sanford stood near the present old house which was built 
by Henry B. Sanford and is fast going to dissolution. Judge 
Sanford took first title to the east half In 1840, owing to 
ill health and other trials, he, Benjamin, sold out and finally 
settled at Hudley, Mich., where he lived till his death, with his 
daughter, Mrs. Maria Greene, and son Daniel, who is still liv- 
ing. Henry B.,son of Judge Sanford, lived there awhile, and 
Lucien Kent after him. Israel Putnam bought it, and Silas H. 
Sanford got it of his estate and sold it to Seymour Clark, 
whose widow holds it, except six acres in the northwest corner, 
which FuUom Corwin bought in 1866 and now holds. Mrs. 
Rhoda (Moon) Wing-Norris and Isabelle Moon lived with 
him till their deaths. They were skilled women in the art of 
weaving and cloth making. 



114 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Seth Putnam, Jr., built him a house in the southwest 
corner of his father's farm at the foot of the hill. He died 
at sea on his way to California in company with Henry B. 
Sanford in 1849, leaving a widow and two daughters, Celia and 
Cynthia, both of whom married and settled in Michigan. 
Seth, Jr., got the money of Mr. Brooks to go to California, 
giving a mortgage on his farm, which Mr. Brooks was com- 
pelled to foreclose. Mrs. Jacob Gould with her son Azro and 
daughter Harriet lived there some years. Porter Pierce and 
several others also lived there as tenants. On the destruction 
of the house and attached buildings by fire on the Merrill 
place, Mr. Riley, the then occupant of the farm, bought and 
moved this house over there, which is still in use. Mr. 
Pierce's children were as follows : Henry, living at Fort Jack- 
son ; Ellen, married Plumer Kendrick, died soon after ; Sey- 
mour, died in 1864; Frank W., living at Potsdam ; Elsie, 
married Harlan Clark and went west, where she died ; Mary ; 
Sarah, married William Hawkins ot Lawrence, now deceased ; 
and Fred, living in , Wis. 

Nathaniel Baldwin took up at an early date what for 
over fifty years has been known as the Dyer L. Merrill farm, 
next west of Mr. Putnam, being the south half of lots forty- 
eight, forty-nine and the southwest quarter of forty-seven. His 
deed bears date 18 16. He died in 1828, and his son Na- 
thaniel, Jr., held it for some years. The son furnished the 
means and Jesse Moon built a sawmill just back of the 
William S. Howe farm on the Turnpike. He had a family 
of twelve children, all of whom had died prior to 1870, as I 
learn from a title search made by Judge Knowles, except 
William, Mary and Nathaniel, Jr. (See genealogical record 
■of his family.) In 1845 Mr. Baldwin sold the farm to Horatio 
N. Barnes. 

In 1843 Dyer L. Merrill, who had lived for five years pre- 
vious on the second lot south of Orman Beecher's on the 
crossroad marked Darius E. Kent, rented this farm with his 
brother-in-law, William A. Sheals, for five years, at two hun- 
dred dollars rental, one-half in cash and the other half in re- 
pairs. The following year Mr. Merrill bought out Mr. 
Sheals and in 1851 purchased the farm of Mr. Barnes. He 
added to it so that when he sold to Jonah Sanford in about 
1865 he had three hundred and sixty acres. In 1858 he built 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 115 

a potato starch factory on this farm near the residence of Judge 
Sanford, which he conducted alone and with Jonah Sanford as 
partner till he sold farm and factory to Mr. Sanford in 1865, 
when he removed to Nicholville, where he and a Mr. Kellogg 
that year built a large three-story brick block on Church 
Street, the easterly part of which is used by his son Silas in 
the furniture business. He later purchased a starch factory in 
Dickinson Centre and also in Hopkinton village. The latter 
stood close to and on the south side of the road and west bank 
of Lyd Brook, no trace of which now remains. Mr. Sanford 
sold the farm, reserving the fifty acres across the road from 
his house, to William Riley. He later took it back and sold 
to Timothy Lary, whose widow now holds it. There was a 
mass of sheds and barns near the house, all of which with the 
house were destroyed by fire when Mr. Riley was in posses- 
sion. 

Judge Jonah Sanford took the tract next westerly of 
Mr. Baldwin of one hundred and twenty-five acres but on 
the south side of the road. He selected it in the fall of 1 8 1 1 
and because of the fine spring brook which divides it into 
almost equal halves. His father had trouble on the hill in 
Cornwall, Vt., to get water and he was determined to get a 
well watered tract in any event. A memorandum of his life, 
.written by himself, states that he made " a little beginning in 
the entire wilderness" that fall but did not permanently es- 
tablish himself upon it till March, 18 15. He was back in 
town the next spring or summer, since Mr. Risdon speaks of 
his returning to Vermont. The War of 18 12 coming on, he 
served a short time as a volunteer at Vergennes and also took 
part as a soldier in the battle of Plattsburg, September 11, 1 8 14. 
At the time he selected the farm there was only a partially 
chopped or blazed line for a road through that section. His 
log cabin was built a little back from the present house and 
on the east side of the present dooryard. I can remember of 
having its location pointed out. His son Simeon held the 
farm till his death in 1891, when it was sold to Silas H. San- 
ford, who, a few years since, sold it to Orlando Hayden. I 
am unable to state when Judge Sanford built the present 
house, a cut of which is given. I feel sure it was about 1825. 
The piazza at first extended across the east and west sides till 



n6 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

some years ago, when they were removed by his son Simeon, 
who built an addition on the rear or south side of the house. 

Charles Gibson was the first one to settle upon what 
has been and is known as the Jonah Sanford, Jr., home- 
stead, now held by Silas H. Sanford. Caleb Wright first 
selected it and made a little clearing on the hill where the 
present house stands. He had no neighbors except those 
a mile north through the woods on the Potsdam road, all 
of whom discouraged him, telling him there would be no 
road through that section and so he gave it up, taking the 
farm where his son George S. now resides, who so informs 
me. Mr. Gibson built quite a long log cabin with an east 
and west room a little north and east of the present house. 
Just when he settled there I cannot state, but it is pretty cer- 
tain that he was settled there in 1811, since I notice that he 
was selected that year as overseer of highways for the south- 
west district. His deed to the farm does not bear date till the 
year 1818. He sold to Asa Moon in 1819, and he to Jacob 
T. Gould in 1841. Mr. Gould sold to Clark S. Chittenden 
in 1852, and he to Jonah Sanford, Jr., in 1853. Mr. Gibson 
moved to the Capell road in Parishville. Mrs. Permelia 
(Sanford) Brooks taught school in the east room of the log 
house in about 1837. Miss Emily. A. Remington, of 
Ypsilanti, Mich., daughter of Stillman C, writes me that she 
and her five brothers and sisters went there to school to 
Miss Sanford. Mrs. Fullom M. Corwin also well remem- 
bers the fact of school being kept there and by Permelia 
Sanford. In fact she lived in the log house with her grand- 
father, Asa Moon, for a time. He died there in 1842. Mr. 
Moon built the north end of the present frame house which 
is the parlor. The sitting room was then a wagon shed. 
When Mr. Gould was elected a justice he finished off the shed 
and added it to his home. Mr. Sanford still added further 
to it. When Mr. Moon sold to Mr. Gould he reserved the 
use of the log house till he could build some thirty rods 
down and on the west side of the north road. He died be- 
fore its completion. His widow, Rhoda Wing, her children, 
Charles, Annie, Delia and Isabella Moon, moved into it un- 
finished, living in the cellar for some time. They got it 
built finally when Jessie Moon took the title to the fifty acres 
and gave them back a life lease. Later Dyer L. Merrill be- 




THE LATE JONAH SANFORD, JR., RESIDENCE. 
F7-oiit end of house hiilt by Asa Moon about i8jo. 




THE LATE JUDGE JONAH SANKORD HOUSE. 
Built by hi?n about 182^. 




RESIDENCE OF SAMUEL E. EASTMAN. 
Front part built by Samuel Eastman hi i8i^. 




HOUSE OF HOWARD P. EASTMAN. 
Built by Lee Eastman in i8j2. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 117 

came the owner. A Mr. Breed built a blacksmith shop just 
south of the house, using the frame of the second school- 
house in the Durfey district for that purpose. The house 
and shop had different tenants for many years. All trace of 
both is obliterated. 

Barney Moon took the next tract west of Mr. Gibson 
on the south side of the road. His cabin was on the top of 
the hill where the turn in the road is made to avoid the hill. 
The potato cellar with a small mound of stone, the ruins ot 
the fireplace, can still be plainly seen. Mr. George S. Wright 
is the only person who can recall the fact of this habitation. 
He says it was called the Moon lot for some years. Title 
was first taken to it by Judge Sanford. 

Asa Squire took up a farm on the south side of the road 
opposite the late residence of Lee Eastman, as I learn from 
the survey bill in 1824 of the road leading south between 
the farms of Mr. Squire and Heman Sheldon. Lee East- 
man took the first title to it in 1831 with a few acres on the 
north side of the road from Heman Sheldon, where he built a 
fine stone house in 1832, which farm is held by his son Howard 
P. Eastman. Mr. Squire's log house stood on south side 
of road, some twenty-five rods east of Mr. Eastman's stone 
house. A hole in the ground and a few apple trees close by 
remained till some years ago to note that a home was once 
there. Mr. Squire was a son of Eli, one of the original 
pioneers, and his descendants are the only people bearing the 
blood of Eli now living. On selling out here he went up 
south of Parishville and built a sawmill, which locality be- 
came known as " Squire's Mills." His son Rollin went to 
Minneapolis where he died recently, leaving two sons, C. D. 
Squire of that city and Roy W. Squire of Philippine Islands. 
His son James is living at West Bangor, N. Y., and has one 
or two children. 

Heman Sheldon was married February 4, 1 8 1 2, and came 
to Hopkinton the next week to settle. He took the tract 
next west of Asa Squire, where his son Ezra so long lived, 
and eighty acres on the north side of the road opposite Asa 
Squire's. The date of his deed is December, 181 1, which, 
with the fact that he brought his wife in the dead of winter in 
1812, plainly shows that he had been in and built a cabin in 



ii8 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

i8ii. The old map of Mr. Hopkins shows that these lots 
were first " booked " to Joel Sheldon. He was the father of 
Heman, Gaius and Oliver, and selected and purchased these 
tracts for Heman as also those for Oliver and Gaius a little 
earlier. Her daughter, Mrs. Orman Beecher, tells me that 
her mother stopped a week or so on her way in with her sis- 
ter, Mrs. Jasper Armstrong, in her log cabin a half mile east 
of the William S. Phelps place, while her husband went on 
and got the cabin habitable. There was then no road through 
there and so he had to go by the Potsdam road, crossing over 
through the woods to his tract. He built the stone house 
long held by his son-in-law, George Rockwood, in 1829. 
This house and the east part of the farm are held by Isaac 
Gurley. The west part was long held by his son Ezra when 
it passed to Azro Perkins, who recently sold it to L. L. 
Dewey. The old home of Ezra was destroyed by fire some 
two or three years ago, when a fine new house was built by 
Mr. Perkins on the site of the old house. 

Settlement of the Peck Road. 

This road starts from the Turnpike, a quarter of a mile 
southwest of the village, and extends due south for some dis- 
tance and to the forest. It was backward in receiving settle- 
ment. The first farm up from the Turnpike was that of 
Asahel H. Chittenden on the west side. It was conveyed to 
him by Elisha Risdon off the rear end of his home farm as his 
daughter's dowry. Mr. Chittenden built a log cabin there. 
He sold to Fayette P. Sprague, and he to Harmon Clark, who 
built a frame house and barn. He sold to Rollin S. Bedee, the 
present owner. 

Dr. Henry Witherell, who was a brother of S. Russell 
Witherell, took up the tract across the road. He came to 
town in 1837, and went to Waukegan, 111., in 1846. While in 
town he practised as a physician. He sold to his brother, 
Thomas D., of Depeyster, N. Y., and he to his brother S. 
Russell. From him it passed to his son Edwin, who erected 
the buildings and still owns it, though held by his son. 

AuRELius Remington took up the tract next south on 
the west side. He sold to William A. Sheals, who lived there 
some years, when he sold to Roswell Andrews. Mr. Andrews 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 119 

resided there till a few years since, wlien he sold to Barney M. 
Conlin, who recently died. 

Nathan Peck settled across the road from Mr. Reming- 
ton with buildings a little south. Mr. Peck first settled on 
the Sanford road opposite Seth Putnam's. Mr. Peck and Mr. 
Remington had some litigation and trouble as we learn from 
Mr. Risdon's diary. The farm passed to his son Orlin A., who 
held it till his death. It is now owned by William Shonyo. 

Just south of Mr. Remington's is the crossroad extend- 
ing westerly, and on the south side in the corner formed by 
this road is the schoolhouse of the district. 

Reuben Ainsworth lived across the road and a little 
south of the schoolhouse. He was born in Calais, Vt., and 
came about 1838. His children were Bailey, Alanson, Riley, 
Delmora and Samuel. Alanson married while in town. He 
afterwards went to Osseo, Mich., where he died. He raised a 
large family. Riley married a Miss Stacy and lives at Nichol- 
ville. He was the young man whose fiddling annoyed Mr. 
Risdon. (See diary.) The daughter died many years ago. 
Samuel, the youngest, remained in town many years. 

Daniel Sylvester lived just south of the schoolhouse. 
His children were Luther, Daniel, Ezra and Melissa. Daniel, 
the son, settled in Stockholm, where he died. He had two 
sons, one of whom, Leonard W., married Mary N., daughter 
of Russell T. Wheelock, and lives at Woodstock, Vt. The 
other children, Luther, Ezra and Melissa, have died. The 
owners of this farm following Mr. Sylvester were William A. 
Sheals, J. M. Hammond, Harris Farewell and Isaac R. Hop- 
kins, the present owner. The buildings have all gone. 

Royal T. Wheelock settled on the west side of the road 
three-quarters of a mile farther south in 1836 or 1837. The 
road at this time had only been cut and worked as far south 
as Nathan Peck's. Mr. Wheelock in the following year 
helped cut it on south to his place and beyond. He was the 
first man to settle south of Mr. Peck's. Mr. Wheelock came 
from Calais, Vt., where he was born. His home back in the 
woods was for a time quite a rendezvous for the hunters, among 
whom was Captain John S. Roberts. Deer were plenty in 
those days, and it was not an uncommon thing to see a half 



I20 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

dozen or more of them in the winter when the snow was deep 
and food scarce browsing in the slash. Those were severe 
times indeed, and the privations of many of the settlers were 
terrible. His children went to school in the old log school- 
house near Isaac Snell's, a distance of upwards of three miles. 
The only way to get any actual money was to make black 
salts. 

In 1846 Mr. Wheelock moved down into Stockholm, 
where he died in 1848. His son, Russell T., born April 3, 
1832, at Calais, Vt., having married Maria L. Ober, moved 
on to a farm in 1857 on the east side of the road near his 
father's old place in Hopkinton, where he remained till 1865, 
when he went to Bridgewater, Vt. In 1874 he returned and 
settled at Buckton in the town of Stockholm, where he still re- 
sides, and is a prosperous and useful citizen. 

His four children were and are, to wit : (i) Florence L., 
born May 6, 1858, who married Lucien Gilbert and resides 
at Pomfort, Vt. They have two sons, Leon and Walter. 

(2) Royal T., born February, 1861, and died at three years. 

(3) Mary N., born April 11, 1864. She married Leonard W. 
Sylvester and lives at Woodstock, Vt. They have a daughter, 
Grace, born July, 1885, and a son, Gerald, born November, 
1889. (4) Ada M., born March 9, 1867. She married Al- 
bert B. Crabbe of Norfolk, and died in 1894, leaving a 

daughter, Eva. 

The second child of Royal was Susannah C, born in Calais, 
Vt., and died in Stockholm in 1848. 

The third child was Gideon S., born in Hopkinton in 
1836. He enlisted in 1862 in Co. K, 60th Regiment, dis- 
charged on account of sickness and died February 5, 1863. 

The fourth child, Levi D., born September 26, 1838, has 
since 1846 lived in Stockholm and is one of Buckton's stable 
and realiable men. He married, first, Maria Beach, by whom 
there were two children, Addie, now dead, and Brooks H. He 
married, second, Mary Clark, daughter of H. J. Clark of Pots- 
dam. He enlisted September 2, 1864, in Co. H, ist New 
York Light Artillery, discharged September 30, 1865. 

Southerly of Mr. Wheelock there were a few settlers, 
among whom were Antoine Shonyo, Darius Gilbert and 
Calvin Cutler. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

The Story of the Villag^e Green or Park — The first Burial Ground 
— The First Death in Town — Mr. Hopkins's Troubles — The 
"^ Old Schoolhouse and Town House — The Present Town Hall — 
The First Gjngregfational Church Built in 1827 and its Suc- 
cessors. 

On the ninth day of July, 1808, Roswell Hopkins made 
and signed a deed giving and granting unto the inhabitants of 
the town, in consideration of his good will and respect for 
them, a parcel of land beginning at the southwest corner of 
Reuben Post's " home lot " (Chittenden store corner) ; thence 
west twenty rods ; thence north twenty-two rods ; thence east 
to said Post's land ; thence south to the point begun at, mak- 
ing in all with the road about three acres, for the purpose of 
a green or common, excepting that a strip six rods in width 
off the north end shall be used for the purpose of erecting a 
meeting or other public house or houses when the inhabitants 
shall think proper. In and by the same deed he granted a 
parcel of land beginning at a point in the top of the bank 
east of Lyd Brook and thence east eleven rods ; thence north 
fifteen rods ; thence west eleven rods; and thence south to the 
place of beginning, containing one acre and five rods with a 
right of way from said green thereto, for the purpose of a 
burying yard or ground. 

This deed was duly signed by Roswell Hopkins and wit- 
nessed by Nathaniel Rudd, his brother-in-law, and H. Mc- 
Laughlin. His wife did not join in the deed nor was it ac- 
knowledged. Afterwards his name was blotted out with ink 
and the seal torn out of the sheet. On the filing page is this 
memorandum : " This deed cancelled and new deed given of 
another parcel of land for the same purpose for a burying 
ground." 

As early as 18 17 Mr. Hopkins became greatly involved 



I2Z EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

and as a result the sheriff began selling his lands to satisfy the 
claims of his creditors, as is more fully shown a little later in 
this chapter. As a result of his complications Mr. Abraham 
Varick became the owner of all or substantially all of Mr. 
Hopkins's unsold lands. Whether he acquired them as Mr. 
Hopkins's friend and in his interest, or as a business venture, 
or to save himself for moneys advanced, I cannot say. At 
any rate he was sufficiently kind and considerate toward the 
settlers to give them a good title to the village Green and lot 
north of it for public buildings in 1827, thus confirming 
the gift of Mr. Hopkins in 1817 to the same lands. How- 
ever, the deed of Mr. Varick, instead of being to the inhab- 
itants of the town, as Mr. Hopkins had given it, is to Bush- 
nell B. Moore, Gaius Sheldon and Zoraster Culver, as trustees 
of the First Congregational Society, and the public Green and 
meeting-house lots are separately described. The latter begins 
in the west bounds of the Stockholm road, two rods and eight 
links from the northeast corner of the " stone school or town 
house," and runs thence west eleven rods and twelve links ; 
thence south six rods ; thence east to the west line of said road, 
and thence north to the point begun at, and is to be kept and 
held by said trustees and their successors in office solely and 
purposely as a place on which to erect meeting-houses or other 
public building. The Green or Common begins at a point 
in the north line of the Turnpike seven rods west of the 
southwest corner of a house (tavern) built by John Thomas, 
then owned by Philip S. Schuyler of Rhinebeck, N. Y., 

and occupied by A. Merritt, and runs thence west to 

the southeast corner of a lot deeded to Samuel Wilson, then 
owned by E. Hulburd and Z. Culver ; thence north to the 
southwest corner of the meeting-house lot ; thence east to the 
Stockholm road ; thence south to the point begun at, to be 
held by said trustees and their successors for the inhabitants 
of the town, to be used for a public Green or Common and 
for no other use whatever. Although described differently, 
these are identically the same lands contained in the two pre- 
vious deeds by Mr. Hopkins. 

A picture of the Park taken by George M. Pressey, May, 
1902, is given. The house at the left is that of Mr. Trask, 
known as the Culver place. The church can be seen in the 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 123 

background through the trees, as also a portion of the Town 
House. 

The First Burial Ground. 

The first burying ground was situated west of the Green 
and just behind the lot known as the Goodnow place, and ex- 
tended east behind the Dr. Sprague lot or part of it. 

It is evident that Mr. Hopkins had some misgivings as 
to locating the cemetery where he did, since he did not per- 
fect the deed and gift. However, it was certainly used as the 
first burying ground of the town. That the town recognized 
and treated it as such is shown by the action taken at a spe- 
cial town meeting held in May, 181 1, when, on motion of 
Dr. Stephen Langworthy, the sum of $200 was appropriated 
" to clear off and fence the burying ground now in use near 
Roswell Hopkins's dwelling, and that Roswell Hopkins, Eli 
Roburds and Reuben Post take charge of the work." It is 
apparent from this appropriation that but Httle or no work 
had been done on it at this time. What few burials there had 
been were made in among the trees. 

The Present Cemetery Grounds. 

On the twenty-fourth day of April, 18 17, Mr. Hopkins 
made a full conveyance to the inhabitants of the town of 
Hopkinton of the same lands for a Green and building lot as 
contained in the cancelled deed of 1808, and also one acre and 
one hundred and seventeen rods and a road thereto (part of 
present cemetery grounds) " for the sole purpose of a burying 
ground and on the express condition that the inhabitants shall 
fence said ground and road whenever the same shall be neces- 
sary to be inclosed and keep the fences in repair." 

At the time of giving this deed, John Thomas had a tav- 
ern on the Chittenden store corner and Samuel Wilson a store 
on the " Culver corner," with its east end coming to the west 
line of the Green. 

The first recognition of this gift of a burial ground that 
I find in the official records of the town is in the year 1 849, 
when an appropriation of fifty dollars was made to repair the 
fence. When it first came into use as a burial ground I am 
unable to state, but probably about 1820. 



124 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Some fifty or sixty years ago the remains of those buried 
in the first burial ground were taken up and transferred to the 
new grounds. Isaac R. Hopkins tells me that his uncle, Ros- 
well Hopkins, assisted in such transfer and that the bones of a 
girl were found lying inverted, creating the suspicion that she 
had tvirned over after burial, though of course she may have 
been buried in that position. 

Mr. Elisha Risdon cleared the north part of the present 
grovinds in 1806, as appears on his tombstone. In the year 

the grounds were enlarged by the acquisition of all the 

land south to the highway. Almost annually appropriations 
have been and are being made by the town to improve and 
beautify the grounds. They are now in very good condi- 
tion, but will require constant labor and attention. The pic- 
ture given was taken in 1902 by King T. Sheldon, and kindly 
furnished by him for this work. 

The First Death in Town. 

According to Dr. Plough the first death was that of an 
infant in the year 1807. He further states that from the set- 
tlement of the town in 1803 to the death of this child there 
had been twenty-six births. Surely the death of only one 
person out of all the settlers with their children and twenty- 
six babes in four years speaks well for the hardihood of the 
people and especially of the babes born and reared in log 
cabins. I doubt very much if we can now show so low a rate 
of mortality among babes with our warm houses, physicians 
and nurses in plenty. 

Whether this child was buried in the old burial ground or 
in some sequestered nook near its parents' cabin in the woods, 
I am unable to say. Back to earth with the unknown and 
nameless millions he or she has gone, leaving not a name or a 
sign. 

Mr. Hopkins in Business Difficulties. 

It is apparent in many ways that Mr. Roswell Hopkins 
got into serious financial straits as early as 181 7 or 181 8. A 
story has come down through the years which the more 
elderly people still hold in memory that his son Benjamin W. 
took a government contract to build a fort or to do some 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 



125 



other public work in a southern state, that his father went 
on his bond for the fulfilment of the contract, that the work 
proved disastrous to all concerned, and that this was the cause 
or the main cause of all his business troubles. 

I am now able to confirm this tradition. I recently learned 
through James Hopkins Gibbs of Detroit, Midi., great- 
grandson of Mr. Hopkins, that Benjamin W. did take a 
government contract to build some fortifications at Mobile 
Point, Ala. ; that his father, Roswell, and Thaddeus Laughlin 
went on his bond for the performance of the work, and that 
judgments were recovered against the bondsmen. Benjamin 
W. died at Havana, August 13, 1819, whither he had gone on 
some errand. (See sketch of Benjamin W. in genealogical 
records.) As the sheriff sold some of Mr. Hopkins's lands 
as early as January, 1818, it hardly seems probable that his 
troubles, or at least all of them, were due to his being bonds- 
man for his son. Very likely the settlers, struggling to make 
farms out of a forest and with large families upon their 
hands, found themselves unable to pay him, which rendered 
him unable to pay his creditors. To tide himself along, due 
to the inability of the settlers to pay or to the failure of his 
son, or to both, he borrowed money in Utica, New York City 
and other places, but it proved only a temporary relief. When 
these obligations became due he was in no better situation to 
pay, and they were put into judgment, amounting to several 
thousand dollars. On two judgments in favor of James Van 
Rensselaer several parcels were sold in January, 181 8, and bid 
in by Abraham Varick of New York City, a friend of Mr. 
Hopkins. In January, 1820, the sheriff again sold, and this 
time practically all of Mr. Hopkins's lands. Then, as now, 
under a sale of lands on execution, the debtor had a year or 
so in which to redeem the lands. In the hope of saving his 
property or some portion of it, he conveyed all his lands in 
August, 1820, to Richard M. Malcom of Utica, N. Y. Soon 
after this Mr. Varick came to his rescue by purchasing the 
rights and claims of all or most of Mr. Hopkins's creditors, 
and thus became the owner of most of what was left of Mr. 
Hopkins's lands. 

The deeds given by Mr. Hopkins as early as 18 17, or at 
least quite a number given in that year, were held to pass no 
title or at least to be defective. Mr. Varick subsequently re- 



126 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

conveyed the lands, whether at the request of Mr. Hopkins 
to confirm the title he had given I am unable to state. That 
the titles to land and all matters relating thereto were in a de- 
moralized state in iSii is shown in the reply to the resigna- 
tion of Rev. H. S. Johnson. 

The Old Stone Schoolhoose. 

I call it schoolhouse, for that was the name given to it by 
its builders at the time of laying the corner stone. However, 
we know it was at once also used for religious and town pur- 
poses, and was for many years thereafter. It was in all prob- 
ability the first public building erected in the town. It stood 
on the six-rod strip reserved for public buildings in all three 
of the deeds of the Park or Green, and was where or very 
nearly where the present town house stands. It stood till 
1 870, when it was torn down and the present hall erected in its 
place. 

And yet, though only gone thirty-two years. Its form and 
look are fast fading into dim outlines and very soon will be 
forgotten by all. In fact many people living near it now 
differ in their description of it. Very fortunately Mr. Charles 
H. Brush has preserved a tintype of his father's oxen in which 
the old town hall was accidentally taken. Mr. King T. Shel- 
don of West Winsted, Conn., has kindly eliminated the oxen 
(which perhaps he should not have done, since our picture of 
the hall is due to them), turned the building round and given 
us a very fair view of the old hall in which our forefathers, 
often with heavy hearts and onerous burdens, met in solemn 
council and fervent prayer for many years. But for this tin- 
type I fear the old hall would be nothing but a memory. 
After much effort it is the only picture of which I have been 
able to learn, and our thanks are due to Mr. Brush for its 
preservation. 

The Story of its Buildingf. 

Recently Mr. V. A. Chittenden handed me a small, thin 
book which Fred H. Kent, Esq., had handed him. On ex- 
amining it, to my supreme delight I found it to be the story 
and the history of the building of the old hall, written at the 
time and with original signatures. Many things which before 
were vague, indistinct and uncertain are now made clear. The 




TOWN HALL, HOPKINTON. 
Built 1870. 




OLD TOWN HALL, HOPKINTON VILLAGE. 
Built in 181 J and taken down 1870. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 127 

little book is entitled " A Record of Proceedings of the Pro- 
prietors of the Town Room in Hopkinton." 

From this I learn that in 18 14 the people of the Centre 
school district were about to build a new schoolhouse and 
offered the inhabitants of the town the privilege of adding a 
second floor or story over the schoolroom, for religious and 
town purposes. The leading men of the town accepted the 
offer and formed themselves into an association with a consti- 
tution or set of rules for their guidance. The clearings out- 
side the village or even in the village had only just been well 
begun at this time. It was still mostly forest and the homes 
were all of log save two or three. 

The articles of association are interesting in many ways 
and I give them entire. They are as follows : 

Whereas, the inhabitants of the Centre school district of the town of Hop- 
kinton have offered the inhabitants of said town the privilege of erecting a Town 
Room for the purpose o(^ transacting town business and for holding meetings of 
religious worship over the schoolroom which they are about to erect, and. 

Whereas, there will be a great saving in the expense of building by accept- 
ing their offer, we, the undersigned, have agreed to accept said offer, and adopted 
articles as a constitution to govern us in the premises. 

Aricle ist. The room shall be built according to a draft adopted by the 
proprietors and divided into one hundred shares, each share to have one vote if 
claimed by the owner. 

Article 2d. A committee of five shall be appointed by ballot whose duty it 
shall be to superintend the building, to draw on the shares from time to time a 
sum not exceeding five dollars in the whole on each share, to collect the same, 
to receive all moneys, report to the proprietors from time to time the state of the 
funds and the progress of building, and shall keep a just account with proper 
vouchers of all moneys received and expended by them. 

Article 3d. This room shall be used for the purpose of holding town meet- 
ings and meetings of religious worship. 

Article 4th. The Congregational and Baptist societies shall have the privi- 
lege of this room for religious worship alternately in proportion to the number of 
shares which they own, they not having a right to claim their privilege at any 
one time for any omission. 

Article 5th. The proprietors at their first meeting and annually thereafter 
shall appoint a moderator whose duty it shall be to preside and determine aU 
votes ; also appoint a clerk whose duty it shall be to record the proceedings of 
the proprietors and keep a fair copy of the same, and when requested by six 
proprietors shall warn meetings by setting up in three or more of the most public 
places in town at least eight days previous to the meeting in writing specifying 
the business to be transacted at such meeting. 

Article 6th. A majority of the proprietors at any legal meeting warned for 
the purpose may vote a tax on the shares not exceeding twenty-five cents on each 



128 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 



share for the repair of said room, likewise may have power to appropriate the 
use of said room for any other public purpose that will not interrupt divine wor- 
ship or town meetings, and likewise may have power to dispose, of the same by 
paying or securing the payment to the objecting proprietors of the amount of 
their shares. 

Article 7 th. A proprietor may at any time dispose of his share or shares 
and a certificate to that effect lodged with the clerk shall entitle the purchaser to 
all the privileges of the same enjoyed by the original owner. 

Article 8 th. The first meeting of the proprietors shall be held at the school- 
house, near Roswell Hopkins, Esq., on Wednesday the twenty-first December, 
1814. 

Article 9th. All persons shall hold themselves responsible in law for the 
sum of five dollars for each and every share they may subscribe. 

Article loth. Any person signing two shares may have the privilege of 
paying one-half in labor or materials for the building by agreeing with the super- 
intendents for the same manner and for four shares three-fourths and so on in pro- 
portion to the number of shares subscribed. 

Article i 1 th. The moderator, clerk and committee shall hold their office 
for one year and further until others shall be elected in their room. 



Subscribers. 






cSU'A-'-V 










EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 129 










o^^^-c^OyiC-^^-^^ 





130 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

















EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 131 



Kin-i 




'X^-t'^'x^ 












^^4^j^iiU^ Jfyt^ 




132 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

These were the original subscribers to the Town Room, and 
the signature is the genuine handwriting of each. They took 
from one to four shares each, except Roswell Hopkins, who 
took ten. I notice Mr. Eli Roberts then spelled his name as 
I find it in all early records, viz., Roburds, and the Pierce 
brothers, viz., Pearse. Of these names I learn but very little 
of Joseph Chub, John G. White, Joseph Merrill, John Bris- 
maid (I inay not read this name correctly). As will be noticed, 
several names are missing and among them Elisha Risdon and 
Samuel Goodell, though Mr. Risdon had pew number five 
with Mr. Post, and paid for it as he states in his diary. 

The articles of association do not bear any date, but the 
first meeting of the subscribers was held December 21, 18 14, 
in the schoolhouse near Judge Hopkins's. Where he lived I 
am unable to say definitely, but I think it must have been 
near the Dr. Sprague place or possibly in the Sheals place or 
near it. At this meeting Reuben Post was chosen moderator, 
H. S. Johnson, clerk, and Messrs. John G. White, Benjamin 
W. Hopkins, Thaddeus Laughlin, Seth Abbott and Jasper 
Armstrong elected a committee to superintend the building of 
the room. 

The next meeting was held September 8, 1815, in the 
Town Room, when choice was made of Dr. Sprague as moder- 
ator pro tern. Messrs. Roswell Hopkins, Seth Abbott and 
Dr. Gideon Sprague were made a committee to propose some 
method of disposing of the seats in the Town Room. 

The proprietors met again October 26, when it was voted 
as follows : 

First. To accept the room. 

Second. To allow the Hon. Roswell Hopkins five and one-half shares in 
the room for building it larger than the agreement. 

Third. To increase the number of shares in the room to one hundred and 
twenty-seven. 

Fourth. To value the seats and to locate the proprietors according to the 
plan on next page. 

Fifth. To dispose of the supernumerary shares, which will be twenty-one 
and a half, for the purpose of making repairs and amendments on the room. 

Sixth. To appoint a committee of three to superintend the twenty and a 
half shares and to appropriate the avails of them to the rooms as occasion may 
require. 

Seventh. That Isaac R. Hopkins, Dr. Gideon Sprague and Eliphalet Brush 
be the committee for this purpose. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 



133 



The valuation of the seats and distribution of the same 
among the proprietors were as follows : 



$35 

C 

1 
K 

oi 
J 


$30 

a 
2 


$30 

C 

to 

> 

3 












$J5 

C 

1" 

'E i 

c 
4 


$30 

*-. c 

a. .1 
5 


$30 

li 

<< 
6 


$35 

7 




















8 R. Hopkins $35 




$35 


Dr. Sprague, E. Brush 

Maj. Rudd " 


,_ Esq. Abbott, Merrill ,,. 
*" and Eli Squire *^ 


$30 


Jos. Brush 
J. Armstrong 


J2 $30 


$30 


W. Brush, S. Ransom ,, 
John Perry ^^ 


,. A. Blanchard, A. Chandler, Sr. „- 
'■* W. Brismaid **" 


$30 


15 


J6 $30 


$30 


Thad. Laughlin 17 


J8 Oliver and Gaius Sheldon $J5 


$15 


A. Kent .^ 
A. Chandler, Jr. '^ 


.- E. Roburds and ^ . 
■^" J. Gould *'=* 


$15 


Caleb Wright _, 
James Russell ^* 


_ Ashbil Squire ^ , 
'■'■ Charles Gibson ■*'*■' 


$J5 


N. Peck -- 
S. M. Simonds " 


24 $J5 


$J5 


25 


singers 




1 1 1 Entrance 









134 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

There were some sales of shares noted In the record as 
follows : Roswell Hopkins sold two shares, ten dollars, De- 
cember, 1815, to Aaron Warner. Jonathan Pierce sold his 
share to Samuel Goodell, August 1, 18 17. Willis Warriner 
sold one of his shares to Benjamin Blanchard in June, 18 18. 
John Thomas sold to John Mosher one share April 24, 

1819, seat No. 12 on the west side. Eli Squire sold all his 
right to Levi W. Squire, August 5, 18 19. Joseph Merrill 
sold his two shares to Horace Train, August 5, 1819. James 
Pierce sold his share to Hugh Kennedy in August, 18 19. 
Amasa Blanchard sold his share, seat No. 14, to Samuel Ab- 
bott. Silas Massey sold his share, seat No. 12, to Gaius 
Sheldon, April i, 1820. Mr. Sheldon also bought the share 
of Thomas Meacham, Jr., seat No. 22. Charles Gibson sold 
his share for five dollars April 8, 1820, to Asa Moon. Joel 
Gould sold his share in March, 1820, to Nathaniel Baldwin. 
Joel Goodell sold his share to Gaius Sheldon, October 12, 

1820. H. S. Johnson sold two shares, in seat No. 3, to 
Samuel Wilson. 

The schoolhouse with Town House on second floor was 
built of stone and in the year 1815. Reuben Post, a mason 
by trade and one of the foremost men in town, lost his life 
by the falling of a staging, an account of which is given by 
Messrs. Risdon and Kent in their diaries. 

At the time of its erection a thin piece of lead plate, oval 
in form, three by three and one-half inches, was placed in or 
under the corner stone, as also a quart of good Parishville 
whiskey. The lead plate is now the property of Isaac R. 
Hopkins, Esq., and no one can hold it with greater right or 
propriety. It bears on one side this inscription cut in with a 
sharp tool, "Hopkinton School House, Erected, A. D. 181 5, 
Roswell Hopkins, Supervisor, 1815," and on the other side, 
this, " Reuben Post, Gideon Sprague, Eli Roburds, Trus- 
tees, Isaac R. Hopkins, Scribe, 18 15." The whiskey, I am 
informed, on being taken from its hidden retreat for over half 
a century, very quickly evaporated on exposure to the air, or 
at least disappeared. All this, as we can now see, having the 
story of the Town House, related to the first story or school- 
house part of the structure. The entrance to the lower floor 
was on the east side near the south end and to the upper floor 
in the south end. The first house shown in the picture just 



. EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 135 

north of the hall is known as the Starks place and the next is 
the present parsonage of the Congregational Church. 

After some years the town began making some small ap- 
propriations for the repairs of the hall and took it into its 
charge. In 1827 the Congregational Society built a large 
church and so had no occasion to use the hall after that. Dr. 
Hough says that the Congregational and Baptist societies 
built the old hall. In this he is clearly mistaken, further than 
that members of the two societies as well as others took shares 
in the upper floor of the building. The lower floor was a 
schoolhouse, built by the district and so dedicated as I have 
already shown. 

In July, 1 8 19, due notice was given to the share owners 
of a meeting to be held July 22, to decide as to whether they 
would dispose of the Town House (excepting a reserve for 
the transaction of town business) to the First Congregational 
Society. The meeting was held and Dr. Sprague chosen 
moderator. It was voted to collect the overplus shares and 
to repair the cupola so as not to let in rain to damage the 
room ; to appoint a committee to consult with the Baptist So- 
ciety with a view to making further arrangements, and to ad- 
journ meeting to August 5. 

From this it appears that there was at first a cupola on the 
Town House. It must have been removed since none is shown 
in our picture. 

The adjourned meeting came on when Jonah Sanford was 
made moderator pro tern. The following share owners were 
present : Roswell Hopkins, Rev. H. S. Johnson, I. R. Hop- 
kins, Thaddeus Laughlin, Eli Roburds, Amasa Blanchard, 
Gaius Sheldon, Aaron Warner, Joel Gould, Nathan Peck, 
Hugh Kennedy, Eliakim Seeley, Artemus Kent, Joseph 
Chub, Jonah Sanford, Seth Abbott and Seth Putnam. 

A motion being made that on and after the first of July, 
1 8 20, the Town Room "be appropriated to the entire use of the 
First Congregational Society, excepting for town business," 
a vote was taken by yeas and nays resulting in its adoption. 

It was also voted that Aaron Warner, Dr. Gideon Sprague 
and Isaac R. Hopkins be a committee to raise money and 
pay ofi^ the objecting shareholders, who were Jonah Sanford, 
Seth Abbott, Joseph Chub and Seth Putnam. These men 
were of course good Baptists. 



136 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Where the Baptists held service after this I am unable to 
state. In 1830 they united with the society in Lawrence and 
so continued till 1843, when the society became permanently 
located at Nicholville. 

I have thus given practically all that is contained in the 
little book which, so fortunately, has been preserved, giving 
as it does an authentic story of the hall our fathers built, with, 
as we see, so much effort and hardship. It verily seats them 
for us and we can see them, Puritans as they were, in their 
homespun and home-made clothes, devout and prayerful from 
conviction and sincere belief. 

In 1 841 the hall was repaired by a tax on the town for 
$250. Later it had so weakened that a resolution was passed 
at town meeting in 1 850 forbidding the use of the upper room 
when the lower was in use as a schoolroom. 

The New Town Hall. 

The town having outgrown the old hall, and it also be- 
coming weak and dangerous, the people decided in 1869 to 
erect a new and more commodious hall, a cut of which is 
given. The town authorities wishing to have undisputed 
title to the lot on which they should build, and fearing a per- 
mission to built on the old site from the Congregational So- 
ciety was insufficient, due steps were taken by the church to 
get permission and direction from the court to deed the lot, 
which was done May 9, 1871, by John Sheldon, E. Harmon 
Risdon and George Smith as trustees of the society. The 
lot so conveyed is five rods east and west by six rods north 
and south, being the east end of the lot reserved for public 
building. The new hall is of brick, fifty-eight by forty feet, 
with platform in north end and gallery across south end. It 
was built in 1870, Jonah Sanford, supervisor, and on the 
site of the old hall. 

The Fifst Congregfational Church. 

I learn from the records of this society that on September 
6, 1 808, the following persons, to wit, Amasa Blanchard, 
Stephen Ransom, James Pierce, John Thomas, Gaius Sheldon, 
Eda Blanchard, Lucy Blanchard, Esther Post and Asenath 
Thomas were united and formed into what was called the 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 137 

" Church of Christ in Hopkinton," by Rev. John H. Church 
from the New Hampshire Missionary Society. Dr. Hough, 
in his history, says there were five males and six females in 
the first organization, but he must have been mistaken as to 
the latter. 

The society did not have a regular pastor till October, 
1 8 14, though itinerant ministers and missionaries were coming 
and going down to as late as 1850. The people, though very 
religious, were too poor to hire a minister, and when they did 
get able the compensation was very modest indeed, and con- 
sisted largely of grain and household supplies at that. The 
service very often, as we learn from Mr. Risdon's diary, 
was conducted by Roswell Hopkins, one of his sons or 
some other member of the church, and, until 1815, when the 
Town Room was built over the schoolroom, must have been 
held in the log homes of the members, or the log schoolhouse 
near the residence of Mr. Hopkins, which I am unable to lo- 
cate, except that it was near the village Green. 

A formal church organization was effected September 30, 
1 8 14, according to Dr. Hough, with Amasa Blanchard, Reu- 
ben Post and Isaac R. Hopkins as trustees and Rev. Hiram 
S. Johnson as its first pastor, who was duly ordained as such 
in Decembor, 181 5. According to the church records his 
services began in October, 18 14. He was clerk of the first 
meeting of the proprietors, December 21, 18 14, who built the 
Town Room, in which service was held after its completion in 
1815 till 1828. For a history of the old Town Room and 
the seating of its members, see article on " The Old Stone 
Schoolhouse." 

It will be noticed that the society was given a lot on the 
village map situate about one hundred and thirty rods east 
of the Chittenden store corner. This was conveyed by Mr. 
Hopkins in 1820 to Amasa Blanchard, Abijah Chandler and 
Aaron Warner as trustees of the Congregational Society. I 
am sure there never was any church there and that the society 
did not hold it. Evidently they were fearful that the society 
could not hold the lot which Mr. Hopkins deeded them in 
1817, due to his financial troubles, and so he deeded them 
this lot, thinking his right to convey the same was good, but 
it was not. There is no conveyance of the lot by the church, 
which. IS prima facie evidence that it got no title. In 1827 



138 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Mr. Varick confirmed the gift of Mr. Hopkins to the present 
church lot by a conveyance of the same to the society. 

The society having then outgrown the old Town Room, 
or becoming dissatisfied with it for some reason, decided to 
build a new and commodious church building. Accordingly 
Dr. Gideon Sprague, Aaron Warner and Artemus Kent were 
appointed a building committee. They built in that year a 
good-sized structure which stood where the present church 
stands and cost twenty-eight hundred dollars. Mr. Willis 
Warriner was the master mechanic, as George S. Wright in- 
forms me. It seems that Mr. Kent kept the record of the 
work of construction and of the contributions by its members. 
From the leaves of this record still extant I find that the fol- 
lowing men contributed in labor, material and money in its 
construction ; to wit, S. N. Eastman, Elias Post, C. S. Chit- 
tenden, Isaac R. Hopkins, John Gould, Eli Roburds, Aaron 
Warner, Henry C. Greene, Willis Warriner, Anson Grisell, 
Gaius Sheldon, Bushnell B. Moore, Erastus Reeve, Hugh 
Kennedy, Gideon Sprague, Albert Sheldon, Chauncy Chitten- 
den, Joseph Durfey, Henry Palmer, Martin Covey, John 
Conner, Eliakim Seeley, Ruel Lawrence, Jacob Phelps, Elisha 
Risdon, Abraham Johnson, Stephen Ransom, Heman Shel- 
don, Asher Ladd, P. Pomeroy, H. Blanchard and Artemus 
Kent. 

The building was not fully completed till the following 
year. It had an entrance in the south end to a vestibule or 
entry with stairs at either side leading to the gallery across 
the south end over the entry, along the two sides and across 
the north end. There were two doors opening from the 
entry to aisles about ten feet from each side of the main 
room. On the wall side of each aisle were square or box 
pews with door and a board seat around the pew. On the 
inner side of the aisles were narrow pews with door, high back 
to seats, meeting in the centre of the room with a parti- 
tion. I cannot say definitely, but the preponderance of 
opinion is that the pews in the side galleries were box pews 
also. There were two sets or rows of windows, one above 
the gallery and one below. When first built the pulpit was 
in the middle of the room at the south end and the choir in 
the gallery at the north end, which situation continued for about 
twenty years. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 139 

All buildings in those days were built of heavy frames, 
and Elias Post, who assisted in its construction, stated to sun- 
dry persons that it took a large number of men two days to 
raise the frame, and that ten gallons of whiskey were 
consumed in the effort. At that time it was the almost uni- 
versal opinion of mankind that no great undertaking, requir- 
ing much physical effort or labor, could be accomplished with- 
out the aid of liquor. What a change has been wrought in 
the views and opinions of men during the intervening seventy- 
five years on this subject ! Now it is very seldom, if ever, 
used on any such occasion. In fact, all are agreed that it is 
a detriment instead of a help to physical endurance and effort. 

The church was somewhat rearranged, as near as I can 
learn, between the years 1845 ^""^ 1850. The gallery was 
taken out of the north end and the choir placed in the south 
end. The pulpit was placed in the north end and the seats 
between the aisles faced about. If there were box pews in 
the side galleries prior to this they were taken out and long 
bench seats took their place. The work was done, as Mr. 
George S. Wright recalls, by Tambling & Nichols of Stock- 
holm, and the expense thereof paid by the members mostly 
in grain and other produce delivered to Mr. Culver, who took 
it at the market price. 

Thus changed, the church continued till 1873 when, feel- 
ing the need and necessity of a more modern edifice, Messrs. 
Thaddeus H. Laughlin, Joseph A. Brush and King S. Chit- 
tenden were made a committee to take charge of the work. 
The side galleries were removed, one row or set of windows 
put in the place of the former two, and the whole interior re- 
modelled and rebuilt. No change was made in the form or 
size of the building and but little in the belfry. The exterior 
look of the building, aside from windows and the wainscot 
dressing, was about the same as before. The work was done 
by Leonard Blanchard, assisted by Edwin A. Dove, E. A. 
Wood and P. G. Henderson. While at work on the belfry 
it was noticed that the indicator at the very top did not point 
due north, and, as nothing about such an edifice should point 
or teach an untruth, they proceeded with much labor to cor- 
rect it, building a staging for that purpose. There was a 
large ball on the rod supporting the indicator with a tin sur- 
face. On reaching it, as Mr. Dove tells me, they found this 



140 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

memorandum or record scratched into its surface with a sharp 
tool, viz.: "John Gould, July 27, 1828, No rum to-day." 
This was meant, no doubt, as a criticism of what took place 
at the raising of the frame, and it was a most pointed one, 
since it proved that the most hazardous feat of all could be 
done without the use of liquor. 

That considerable was done in the way of remodelling and 
rebuilding at this time is shown by the fact that the total ex- 
pense was the sum of $4,995.64. 

The fire which consumed all the buildings from Lyd Brook 
east to the Artemus Kent place June i, 1891, attacked the 
church in the belfry, and owing to its great height the people 
were unable to get at it and put it out. Thus went down the 
church of the pioneers, remodelled at great expense and with- 
out any insurance. The expense of all this work upon the 
church was contributed and paid by the following persons : 
Joseph A. Brush, Jason C. Brush, Clark S. Chittenden, George 
Smith, George S. Wright, Jonah Sanford, Edwin A. Dove, 
Samuel E. Eastman, Benjamin Collins, R. H. Laughlin, Cal- 
vin L. Cutter, Howard P. Eastman, Harry S. Hazelton, Ros- 
well Andrews, Orlin A. Peck, Samuel Eakins, Antoine Shonyo, 
John A. Harran, Joseph Brush, William S. Phelps, W. S. 
Taggart, David F. Hendersen, Rollin S. Bedee, Silas H. San- 
ford, Sabbath-school, A. L. Warner, J. N. Fleming, A. N. 
Roberts, J. B. Squire, Mrs. Orman Beecher, D. Scofield, R. 
H. Freeman, John Lindsay, Milton Snell, Almira Warner, 
Charles W. Livermore, Varick A. Chittenden, Edwin H. 
Witherell, T. H. Laughlin, John Sheldon, Joel Witherell, E. 
N. Desmond, King S. Chittenden, Ladies' Aid Society, G. 
H. Brush, Kent family, Loren Smith, J. W. Pratt, Fullom 
M. Corwin, T. G. Roberts, L A. Putnam, Truman E. Post, 
George Forsyth, Eben Squire. There was also considerable 
gtatuitous labor by divers persons. 

I have been unable to find a picture of the original church 
with its two rows of windows. The cut which is given is that 
building as altered and repaired in 1873, and has the same ex- 
terior look as the original church, excepting the wainscoting 
and the single set or row of windows. 

Nothing daunted, the society set to work at once and in 
the following year, 1892, built the present church, tasty in 
design and modern in architecture, as may be seen by a glance 
at the cut which is given. The committee in charge of the 




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f* 




^m 


w: 


■ 


'■'t/'. 




■' ^T' 


V 


/ 


f. 


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EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 141 

rebuilding was composed of the following gentlemen : George 
Smith, Charles H. Brush, Truman E. Post and Varick A. 
Chittenden. The master mechanic and builder was T. H. 
Holcomb. The total expense of the structure was $5,867.17, 
and contributed by its members and others as follows : R. H. 
Laughlin, Mrs. J. A. Brush, George Smith, Loren Smith, K. 
S. Chittenden, Mrs. T. H. Laughlin, R. J. Sanford, J. W. 
Pratt, J. B. Squire, S. L. Warner, J. J. Livermore, A. C. 
Warner, George S. Wright, S. E. Eastman, E. E. Smith, S. 
H. Sanford, Mrs. Jonah Sanford, A. S. Smith, George T. 
Smith, Lucinda Briggs, Grace Brush, C. H. Brush, Mrs. J. 
C. Brush, Mrs. John Sheldon, Eugenia Sheldon, Mrs. S. H. 
Chittenden, Kent family, Benjamin Collins, R. S. Bedee, C. 
S. Chittenden estate, Mrs. Arthur Bonney, Dr. H. B. Kent, 
Dr. N. D. Lawrence, F. H. Kent, T. E. Post, Z. Culver 
family, R. M. Smith, Mrs. Orman Beecher, Charles Fuller, 
Emma Clark, J. R. and F. L Hopkins, J. K. Rhodes, Young 
People's Society, D. F. Henderson, Joel Peck, Atwood & 
Son, Lucinda Phelps, H. S. Hazelton, A. T. Roberts & Son, 
Arthur Flanders, Josiah Smith, J. H. Harran, Ladies' Aid 
Society, H. J. Sanford, John Leach, Samuel Eakins, H. P. 
Eastman, V. A. Chittenden. The pictures of the old and 
present church were taken by King T. Sheldon. 

The names of the pastors, with date of beginning and term 
of service, are as follows : 

Rev. Hiram S. Johnson, October, 18 14, eight years. 

Rev. Roswell Pettibone, March, 1823, seven and one- half years. 

Rev. Joseph Butler, June, 1832, one year. 

Rev. Charles Bowles, April, 1 834, three years. 

Rev. P. Montague, February, 1838, one year. 

Rev. Bachellor, July, 1840, one year. 

Rev. Enos Wood, April, 1845, fifteen years. 

Rev. Simeon Gilbert, November, 1861, four years. 

Rev. J. W. Grush, November 18, 1866, six years. 

Rev. H. H. Wait, November 16, 1873, three years. 

Rev. E. J. Beach, May 27, 1877, four years. 

Rev. H. A. Ottman, September i, 1881, six years. 

Rev. E. H. Jenkyns, November I, 1887, two years. 

Rev. W. C. Jones, January 26, l8go, two years. 

Rev. Henry Leland, May, 1892, half year. 

Rev. F. A. Hassold, September 19, 1894, four years. 

Rev. DeWitt C. Reilly, June, 1 899, one year. 

Rev. R. M. Robinson, September, 1900, one and one-quarter years. 

Rev. L. Lewis, June, 1902. 



142 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

A picture of Rev. Enos Wood is given. He was a most 
gentle and devout man and beloved by all. He died April 
lo, 1896, at Potsdam, where his widow still resides. 

The deacons of the church, so far as I have been able 
to learn, with date of election, have been as follows : 

Aaron Warner, May 24., 1821. Roswell H. Laughlin, January 27, 1870. 

Henry C. Greene, August 28, 1829. George Smith. 
Zoraster Culver, January 31, 1834. Loren Smith, March 3, 1882. 
John Sheldon, August 31, 1838. Jason C. Brush, March 3, 1882. 

Philander Brown. Jason Livermore, May 6, I 898. 

Adelbert Smith, May 6, 1898. 

The first Sunday-school was organized March 28, 1828, 
and the Y. P. S. C. E. in 1893. 

The society for the first forty years or so was poor and 
hard pressed at times and had about all it could do to get 
along. The pastor was paid a very small sum, and that very 
largely in farm produce and household supplies. And yet, 
struggling as they were, they kept up a vigorous and rigorous 
discipline in the church and of its members. Whether this 
was more due to their austere and radical convictions than to 
a feeling of necessity, I am unable to state ; but I suspect 
that the present kindly and considerate ways and methods 
would have hardly answered in those times. 

In 1 82 1 the pastor. Rev. Hiram S. Johnson, after seven 
years of continuous service, tendered his resignation in writing, 
in which he said : " The stipulated salary is only I300 per 
year. Out of this sum I do not receive grain enough to 
bread my family. I do not obtain more than $10 a year in 
cash. I have endeavored to live upon this salary until I am 
obliged to labor most of the time upon my farm to maintain 
my family." 

In reply to this the committee to whom the matter was 
referred, consisting of Amasa Blanchard, Gaius Sheldon, Aaron 
Warner and Henry C. Greene, reported " that the society 
could do no more than heretofore, that the dispensations of 
Providence had greatly weakened the church since its forma- 
tion, that five of the principal members had died, that Judge 
Hopkins had lost his property and could not help much, that 
to increase their discouragement the title to the lands in the 
town was in great uncertainty and therefore did not expect an 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 143 

increase of the society by new settlers ; that under such cir- 
cumstances they could not insist on their pastor's continuing 
with them, although the thought of his leaving was extremely 
painful." 

After due consideration Mr. Johnson withdrew his resigna- 
tion and remained another year. This gives an authentic and 
real picture of the poverty and struggle of the people and 
society. 

The Rev. Mr. Johnson was a fine and able man. He 
afterwards settled and preached in Canton, where he bought 
a farm on the road to Crary's Mill, on which he lived the lat- 
ter part of his life. He preached the funeral sermon of Gov- 
ernor Silas Wright, which was published in pamphlet form. 
He was thrown from a load of wood and hurt. Dr. Jesse Rey- 
nolds attended him. He had two sons, Levi and Ed. The 
latter was principal of the Potsdam Academy in i860, and 
went to Sterling, 111. Both died in California. The society 
and people of the town were very fortunate indeed in securing 
the first two pastors of this church, when the people were 
poor, hard pressed, building and making character. They were 
able and grand men, and did much to mould the character of 
the people. There were also many capable men who suc- 
ceeded them in the pastorate. 

1 will give a fewpf the many charges of omission and com- 
mission against the members and of the steps taken to dis- 
cipline them. One of the first was that of Eda Blanchard, an 
original member of the church. Charges of intoxication and 
abuse of her family were made against her in November, 1 8 1 6, 
by James Pierce. An investigation or trial was had, when the 
charges were sustained and she was suspended until she should 
make Christian satisfaction. A considerable number of the 
members were agreed that she was in a deranged state of mind. 
In 1823 the matter again came up, when it was voted that the 
case be dismissed until they could judge more correctly con- 
cerning her conduct. 

On January 31, 18 17, the following charges were made 
against John Thomas : 

Article I. Brother Thomas has wrongfully travelled on the Sabbath. 

Article II. Brother Thomas does not generally attend on the institution of 
family prayer. 

Article III. Brother Thomas has encouraged vain amusements and allowed 
balls to be attended in his dwelling house. 



144 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

After a trial and much discussion by the church, Mr. 
Thomas was excommunicated December 26, 18 17. 

On April 27, 1832, charges were made against Zebina 
Ransom as follows : 

First. For neglect of public worship on the Sabbath. 
Second. For neglecting the stated meetings of the church. 
Third. For neglect of family prayer. 
Fourth. For neglecting to discharge just debts. 

On these he was excommunicated June 28, 1833. 

The Roman Catholic Church. 

This society was formed and organized about the year 
1876 by Rev. Father Normando. The meetings for a time 
were held in the homes of different members of the church. 
In 1877-8 a church was bviilt, which stands on the north 
side of the Potsdam road and on the west bank of Lyd Brook. 
The materials and labor in its construction were contributed 
entirely by members of the society, and the work was wholly 
under the supervision of Father Normando. The building 
was dedicated July 4, 1878. The church was under the care 
of priests from neighboring parishes until 1884, when Rev. 
Father Legault took charge as the first resident priest and 
remained seven years. In 1901 he was succeeded by Father 
Duval, who still has charge. The society has a total member- 
ship of four hundred and twenty. A parsonage was pur- 
chased in 1902. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 



Hi" 



Electoral Census of J 814 — Membership of Families, Property of 
— Slavery not abolished till J 827. 



Heads of Families. jj § 

Abbott, Seth 1 

Abbott, Samuel 

Armstrong, Jasper 1 

Baldwin. Nath.iniel 1 

Blanchard, Ainasa 1 

Blauchard, Jr., Amasa 1 

Brush, Eliphalet 1 

Bellamy, Abuer 

Brinsmaid. James 

Brush, William 1 

Bastin, Joseph 

Bastiu , Daniel 

Chandler, Abijah '2 

Covey, David 1 

Chubb, Joseph 1 

Durfey, Joseph 1 

Durfey, Phineas 1 

Dewey, Jared 1 

Eastman, Samuel 1 

Gould, Joel 

Gray, Heman 1 

Gibson, Charles 1 

Goodell, Samuel 1 

Goodell, Joel 1 

Griffm, Asahel , 1 

Hopkins, Roswell 2 

Hopkins, Benjamin W 2 

Hopkins, Isaac R 1 

Henderson, David 

Harris, Lucy 1 

Kent, Asahel 1 

Knapp, ICplnnim 

Langhliu, I'haddeus 2 

Merrill, judson 

Miller, William 

Massey, Silas 1 

Merrill, Joseph 1 

Martin, Andrew 1 

Martin, Ephraim 1 

Nichols, Rufus 

Nichols, Andrew 

Nichols, Josiah 

Post, Reuben 1 

Pierce, Jonathan 1 

Putnam, Seth 1 

Perry. John 1 

Roburds, Eli 1 

Risdon, Elisha 1 

Remington, Thoin.as 1 

Sprague, Gideon 

Simonds, SamuelM 1 

Stephens, Augustine 

Sheldon, Heman 1 

Squire, Ashbel 1 

Squire, Eli 1 

Sheldon, Oliver. 1 

Seeley, Eliaklm 1 

Sheldon , Gaius 1 

St. Clair, Joseph ] 

Sanders, Jonathan 

Sanders, James 

Sanders, John 

Sheldon, Clarissa 1 

Train, Horace 1 

Thomas, " Icbul " 1 

Trussell, James 1 

Tyler, Joseph 1 

Tyler, Ebenezer 1 



s5' 



! E S3 St> 



£ Spi. Bi3 'k> s § 



"rt ^ 'ta'^ "rtii St*" En 



i44'5 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 



S'E 



aft, p<s Z> 



fe I 



Tyler, Samuel 1 

Thomas.John 1 

Warriner, Willis 1 

Wakefield, Ebenezer 1 

Whitcher Joshua 1 

Wright, Caleb 1 

Warner, Aaron 1 

Totals 60 U B IM 84 ri llu Vi 20 

I am indebted to Isaac R. Hopkins, Esq., who hands me the original 
electoral census made by Benjamin W. Hopkins in 1814. It was filed by him 
as follows: '< Hopkinton Census, 1814-455," the latter figures meaning num- 
ber of people shown as will be seen by adding the six footings to the right. As 
I take it, it was not really a census, though it may have practically amounted to 
that. There may have been a few who did not pay even a rent of forty shil- 
lings or whose place was not worth J^2.o, and also a kv/ stray people. 

It will be noticed that many new names are added to the very early settlers 
of 1 803-1 807 as will be noticed by a reference to the census of 1807 on 
page 57. It would seem that the following men had left town since 1807: 
Elisha Allen, Ephraim Buckingham, Gibbs Fuller, Job Greene, Jonas Harwood, 
John Hoit, Dr. Stephen Langworthy, James Pierce, Nathaniel Rudd, Avery San- 
ders, Naam Sheldon, Chancey A. Stewart and Robert Train. Lucy Harris 
was the widow of Samuel, who died in 18 10, and Clarissa Sheldon was the 
widow of Abraham. Jonah Sanford did not settle in town till 18 I 5. A num- 
ber of the men named in this census who resided in Chesterfield are as follows: 
Messrs. Basten, Chandler, Gray, Harris, Massey, Martins, Pierce, St. Clair, 
Sanders, Trussell, Tyler and no doubt a few others. 

The poll sheet contained a column for slaves, which surprised me as I did 
not know, or if I ever did I had forgotten, that slaves were at any time held 
in Hopkinton. Upon investigation I found that this state began emancipating its 
slaves in 1799, but did not formally and by full legal enactment absolutely abol- 
ish slavery till 1827. The subject of a property qualification to vote also inter- 
ested me and I gave the matter some little time. I find that under the Charter 
of Liberties, passed in 1 69 1, every freeholder of forty shillings per annum in 
freehold had the right of franchise. In 1697 this was repealed and the new 
act required the possession of a freehold worth ^^40. Catholics, Quakers and 
Moravians were not allowed to vote or hold office. Under the first Constitution, 
adopted April 20, 1777, freeholders worth ^100 over all debts could vote for 
governor, lieutenant governor and senators ; those worth ^2 o or paid a yearly rent of 
forty shillings and were rated and actually paid taxes, could vote for member of 
Assembly. By an act passed April 9, 181 I, these values were changed "to 
corresponding sums in Federal currency, viz., $250, J850 and ^5." 



CHAPTER IX. 

The Markets of the Pioneefs — Only Barter and Exchange — 
Scarcity of Money and how got — The Making of Black 
Sahs and Pearlash — Making of Cloth from Wool and Flax. 

The pioneers of 1803 and for some years afterwards had 
but very little capital other than an axe, pluck and strong arm. 
Aside from these they brought but very little with them. They 
had first to hew down the forest, a slow and tedious undertak- 
ing, to make fields for the grazing of stock and the growing of 
crops, that they themselves might live. Their families were 
large, and they had to have food and clothing, plain and coarse 
and simple though they were. For some years their crops 
were no greater than their own eating needs, save possibly a 
small surplus for barter and exchange with the storekeeper and 
neighbors for such articles and supplies as they must have. 

At first there were no roads and no markets save the local 
exchange among themselves. Afterwards when they did have 
roads there was no market or outlet for many years for their 
surplus products nearer or at least more accessible than Platts- 
burg on the east and Montreal on the north. My father, 
born in 1 821, drove beef cattle when a man grown to Brighton 
market in Boston. He also drew mutton, dressed sheep, to 
Plattsburg in the winters for his father and brought back 
nails, glass and other goods that were a necessity. 

There was some boating on the St. Lawrence River, and 
the port of entry and shipping for Hopkinton and surround- 
ing towns was Fort Covington. Until the Northern Railroad 
was built in 1850 the people had no other means of reaching 
markets than what I have stated. The building of that road 
marked an epoch in the life of this section of country and 
revolutionized, so to speak, its modus operandi of business ac- 
tivity and living. 



146 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Scarcity of Money. 

For many years there was but very little money in circula- 
tion among the people, and a good deal of that was of doubt- 
ful value. " Wild-cat" banks after a time started up all over 
the country, and with very little actual capital as a base issued 
their bills and put them afloat. When they got some distance 
from home they passed more readily, since there was no way 
of telling their real worth. Money was a scarce article for 
fifty years or more. There were some years, as we learn from 
Mr. Risdon's diary, when it was quite impossible to get it. 
What little there was somehow seemed to get out of circula- 
tion. Practically all trade and deal among neighbors and at 
the stores were by barter and exchange of one commodity for 
another. The scarcity of money afforded a grand opportunity 
to the Shylocks and forehanded to practise usury, and, I regret 
to say, there were some in every town who reaped a rich har- 
vest in this way. A little study of those early times will dis- 
pel the illusion which many people seem to have that our fore- 
fathers were all grand and noble characters. There were 
Shylocks then and mean and vicious men also. On the whole, I 
am sure the per cent of such was greater then than now. We 
are slowly growing better all the while. 

Every settler had to have a little money during the course 
of the year, at least sufficient to pay taxes and postage. These 
he could not pay by barter or goods. The only way to get 
absolutely necessary cash for the first twenty years or so and 
the best and most economical way for the next thirty was 
through the manufacture of 

Black Salts and Pearlash. 

These always commanded cash, which enabled the manufac- 
turer to pay cash for ashes. Every man saved all the ashes 
he made in the house and the logging fields when possible. 
Mr. Hopkins began buying ashes very soon after the settle- 
ment of the town, as we learn from his old account book, paying 
twelve and one-half cents per bushel for house and six cents 
for field ashes, showing that he at once began the manufacture 
of black salts. Oftentimes the settlers would select a heavily 
timbered section and cut and burn the timber for the ashes it 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 147 

would make. The ash and elm were the most productive or 
at least made the best ashes. 

The settlers used to watch and study the clouds and sky 
so as to burn their log heaps and not have the burning too 
soon followed by a rain which would injure the ashes and if 
long continued destroy them. When the heat had sufficiently 
subsided they were shovelled into wagon or cart and drawn to 
the ashery with more or less dirt, according to the honesty of 
the settler, mixed in. 

The making of black salts was a very simple process in- 
deed. At the asheries was a large leach receptacle which was 
filled with ashes. Upon these water was poured or allowed 
to run which slowly percolated down through them and out at 
the bottom, a dark colored lye. This was put into kettles 
set in arches and boiled down to a hard, very dark, almost 
black, brittle substance, known in trade as black salts. Some 
little skill was required in doing this not to go too far and 
burn them or to allow them to attach to the kettle. Many 
asheries did riot go any further than the making of black salts, 
which were taken to Fort Covington, Plattsburg and other 
points, where they found a ready market. 

Some settlers, in fact quite a good many, who were able to 
buy a kettle set up leaches made from hollow logs or by boards 
set into a bed timber flaring at the top, back in the field near 
their ashes, and made their own black salts. 

Good ashes produced from seven to eight pounds of black 
salts to the bushel, and the ruling price was three cents per 
pound. They sometimes got as high as five cents, which 
brought a great profit to the manufacturer. I well remember 
Mr. E. D. Brooks telling me that when a merchant at Parish- 
ville he bought an ashery all complete for four hundred 
dollars. He put teams on the road and bought all the ashes 
he could find and at a low price as the business was greatly 
depressed, otherwise he could not have got the ashery at so 
low a figure. He made pearlash to the full capacity of the 
plant which he held for a time. It greatly advanced in price, 
but to what figure I do not recall. I do remember that he 
sold the product within a year and made a little over four 
thousand dollars on the year's business. 

Almost every enterprising merchant ran an ashery in con- 
nection with his store, and had teams scouring the country for 



148 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. ' 

ashes. The two worked together very successfully for the 
merchant. The usual price for field ashes was ten cents per 
bushel. Mr. Clark S. Chittenden had and run for many years 
an ashery with a pearlash outfit on the west bank or shore of 
Lyd Brook close up to the Turnpike road, getting the water 
for his leaches from the open raceway on the bank above, which 
had been built to run the old gristmill. Mr. Zoraster Culver, 
another enterprising merchant, conducted one directly across 
the road, where Dyer L. Merrill's starch factory afterwards 
stood. Both were conducted with great success and picked 
up all the ashes for miles around. 

As showing what an acre of timber will produce in ashes, 
I have only the story of Zebina Coolidge. He tells me that 
Gilbert Covey and Reuben Post took a contract to clear ten 
acres on the present Hopkins farm at ten dollars per acre and 
the ashes. The usual price for clearing land seems to have 
been ten dollars in those early days. Probably they were 
given the ashes in this case in addition, owing to the great 
growth of timber. He further says that they had great success 
in burning and saving the ashes and that they secured six 
hundred bushels from a single acre, which they sold at ten 
cents per bushel, making it a very profitable job for them. 

Making: Pearlash. 

The process of making pearlash was about as simple as 
that of black salts, though the necessary apparatus was some- 
what more expensive. The black salts were put into ovens 
and by applying a proper degree of heat for a stated time a 
latge per cent of the impurities were burned out, as also the 
dark color of the salts, leaving a white, brittle cake which 
could be readily broken. This was shipped to market in 
barrels to Fort Covington, Ogdensburg and Plattsburg. 

Pearlash, as I learn from Dr. H. D. Thatcher, is a car- 
bonate of potash. As such it was not in a state for use, or 
at least in the chemical condition in which it was almost en- 
tirely used in those times, namely, as saleratus. To convert 
it into saleratus more carbon had to be taken into its com- 
position, making it a bicarbonate of potash. This was done 
by heating ordinary coal till it gave up its carbonic acid gas 
in proximity to the pearlash, which absorbed it and took it or 




SPINNING WHEEL. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 149 

such part of it as was a proper union to make saleratus. It 
was the staple article used in cooking for many years and 
until recent times. Now it is not made, or if it be it is in 
a very limited way. The bicarbonate of soda has displaced 
it and driven it out of use for cooking purposes. It is true 
that you can still buy it or think you do, since if it be called 
for the merchant will say, " Yes, we have it," and hand you 
bicarbonate of soda. 

The Solvay Company at Syracuse, N. Y., manufacture 
the bicarbonate of soda in quantities that are astounding, 
some two hundred tons every day. The two raw materials 
used in its manufacture are common salt and limestone. By 
heat and proper treatment the soda' locked up in salt is 
liberated, as also the carbonic acid gas held in limestone. 
There being a strong affinity between these two they rush 
into a new union which we know as bicarbonate of soda. 
At the same time the chlorine of the salt thus set free is only 
too eager to form a new partnership, and so embraces the lime, 
forming another useful article known as chloride of lime. 
In and by this operation and process the salt and limestone 
disappear as such, and yet we have two new products, bicar- 
bonate of soda and chloride of lime, with nothing lost in the 
operation, save the impurities that are in the salt and lime- 
stone, which, however, are not lost though worthless. 

How singular that these elements or properties, loving 
one another as they do, did not get together when the earth, 
heated and hot, was going through its formative period ! If 
they had, perhaps they would not have kept through the 
countless ages in which they have come down to us. Possibly 
it was necessary to lock them together, as we find them in 
salt and limestone, for their preservation to this time. Who 
can tell .'' 

Making of Cloth from Wool and Flax. 

The early settlers made a very large part of the cloth for 
their clothing and for household uses and purposes from the 
wool of their own sheep and flax grown on their own farms. 
Every man who was able to do so kept a few sheep for this 
purpose. At the shearing time, as we often see in the diary, 
the wool was picked and usually by women ; that is, they tore 
it to pieces, throwing out the knotty, hard, bad parts, as these 



150 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

greatly Injured the cards. After the picking the wool was 
washed and cleansed as well as could be, when it was ready for 
carding, which was also done by the women and girls. The 
cards consisted of a thin board, rectangular in form, about 
twelve inches by six, with a facing on the inner side of leather 
set thick with wire teeth slightly bent like a coarse brush. 
Two of these, each having a plain handle, were used in card- 
ing. The wool, after being thoroughly dried, was given about 
three pounds of oil or grease to every ten pounds of wool, 
which had to be thoroughly worked into the wool. The 
woman or girl in carding would lay a card on her knee, teeth 
up, with the handle from her held by the left hand. With 
her right hand she would draw a tuft of wool across the card 
several times until a proper quantity of the wool fibre had 
been caught by the wire teeth. Then she would take the 
second card in her right hand, and after duly warming it, draw 
it with a deft motion over the first and until the fibres were 
brushed into parallel lines. By this means rolls were made 
about a foot in length, though they were nothing like so round 
as those turned out by a carding machine, being upwards of 
two inches in width and thicker in the middle. The carding 
done, the next step was the spinning of these rolls into yarn 
or thread, which labor was also done by the women and girls. 
As we learn by the diary, quite young girls did both carding 
and spinning. The spinning was done by a large wheel with 
a cord extending to and swiftly revolving a small wheel with 
a long pointed metal needle attached to its centre. The 
woman in spinning stood upon her feet, revolving the large 
wheel with a short stick or peg about nine inches in length 
called a driver or wheel peg, with a groove near the end that 
it might more surely catch the spoke of the wheel, held in the 
right hand and holding the wool roll in her left hand and 
feeding it judiciously to the rapidly revolving point of the 
metal needle, winding the yarn or thread back from the point 
upon the needle as fast as it was spun. It was a good day's 
work to spin four skeins of yarn in a day, and to do this it 
was estimated that the spinner walked fifteen miles. 

The next step was to wind the yarn upon reels to meas- 
ure it into skeins or knots for dyeing and getting it into 
proper form for the loom. All people making cloth had dye 
tubs for coloring the yarn various colors, otherwise the cloth 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 151 

would all be white. Many people became quite proficient in 
this work, producing rich and bright colors. The women 
then, as now, wished to be dressed in bright and becoming 
clothes which stimulated them to extra effort in the line of 
coloring. 

The next and final step was to weave the yarn into cloth, 
which was also done by the women in the loom. The loom 
was a rather simple affair, consisting- of four square posts 
standing upright very much like the posts of an old-fashioned 
bedstead, connected at top and bottom by crossbeams to hold 
them firmly in place. They were mostly made by local car- 
penters. Across the back part between the posts was the 
yarn beam, a heavy octagonal stick of hard timber about 
twelve inches in diameter, making a yard in circumference. 
There was also a round beam about six inches in diameter 
toward the front part of the loom, directly under the reed, 
called the cloth beam, and upon which the cloth was wound 
as fast as woven. The warp threads were wound upon the 
yarn beam and extended in horizontal and very close parallel 
lines to a small wooden rod across the front of the loom to 
which they were attached. There were many little items 
necessary in preparing to weave, simple enough to the oper- 
ator, but difficult for me now to fully understand and more so 
to write out intelligently. In preparing to fit the loom for a 
job, considerable skill was required. A frame of two posts, 
some five feet high and some six feet apart, with wood pegs 
about six inches separated down the posts, was used to lay 
out the warp. These threads went from peg to peg to the 
full length of the piece of cloth which the weaver had decided 
to make when it was wound upon the yarn beam. This done, 
the next step was to string the warp threads, the necessary 
number for proposed width of cloth having previously been 
determined. All I am trying to do, or can do, is to give the 
more essential things in weaving. Those wishing a detailed 
and complete story must consult works on that subject. Each 
thread on the yarn or warp beam was drawn with a warping 
needle through an eye in the harness hanging from above and 
in about the middle of the loom. The harness consisted of 
two parts made in this way : two strands of a small strong 
cord, a foot or more in length, were tied to a cross rod above 
and to another below it. Near the middle of each two strands 



152 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

hanging perpendicular and side by side, two knots were tied 
about an inch apart, thus making what was called an " eye." 
These two parts of the harness hung side by side across the 
loom. The first warp thread went through the eye of the rear 
frame or part of the harness and the second thread through the 
eye of the front frame of the harness and so on across the loom, 
each alternate thread going through the eye of the rear and 
front parts of the harness. A cord from the lower bar of 
each part of the harness extended to a foot treadle below. 
When one of these was pressed down, as may be seen, one- 
half, every alternate thread was pulled down three inches or 
so, while the other half remained in a horizontal line. The 
warp thread, after passing through the eye of the harness, was 
drawn through the reed just in front of the harness and tied 
to the cross rod near the weaver. The reed or batten was a 
frame hung at the top of the loom so that its lower part 
would swing. It hung down so as to take in the warp 
threads. Across the loom in this frame were the reeds set 
perpendicular and separated only sufficiently to permit of the 
passing of the warp thread. They were yellow in color, some 
four or five inches in length, very hard and smooth to freely 
permit the passing of the thread, and held in a frame. 

The shuttle was a block of wood a foot or so in length 
coming to a dull point at either end. It was hollowed out in 
the centre to permit of the reception of the quill or bobbin 
on which was wound the woof or cross threads of the cloth. 
The shuttle had a thread hole in one end through which the 
.thread of the bobbin passed. 

When one-half the warp threads were pulled down by 
a foot treadle the bobbin was thrown by hand across the 
loom just in front of the newly made cloth and, of course, be- 
tween every alternate thread of the warp, thus adding a cross 
thread to the cloth. When this was done the reed or batten 
would be swung with some force against the weft thread to 
press it evenly into place against the edge of the cloth already 
made, when it would swing back. Then the other warp 
threads would be pressed down and the bobbin thrown back, 
repeating this the live day long and until the web of cloth was 
completed. On the swing and blow of the batten depended 
the evenness of the woof. 

All families at all prosperous raised wool or flax or both 




QUILL WHEEL. 



FLAX WHEEL. 






LOOM SEAT IN FRONT REMOVED. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 153 

and for many years spun it, though all did not have a loom. 
It made, as we can readily see, much extra labor for the 
women which is now wholly unknown. After a few years 
carding machines were brought into every village, which were 
a great relief A little later shops for the manufacture of 
cloth and fulling mills were established pretty generally. 
Tailor shops for the cutting and making of garments were in 
every village and even here and there along the highway. 
Shoemakers and tailors often went to the farmers' homes and 
shod and clothed the family. Now there are but few shops 
of these kinds, nearly all our shoes and clothing being made 
ready for wear in the great factories. 

Cloth ffom Flax. 

The flaxseed was sown broadcast as we sow grain. It grew 
to a height of about two feet. They pulled it by hand and 
bound it in bundles and let it stand in shocks for awhile. Then 
they spread it on the ground for a time that the pulp or woody 
stock might decay so that it could be separated from the flax 
fibre on the outside of the stalk. When properly decayed or 
rotted they would draw it with the left hand over some wooden 
jaws on a bench, striking it with a dull wooden sword in the 
right hand between the jaws. This was called breaking the 
flax and was the most primitive way in which it was done. 
The way in which it was usually done was in this wise. Into 
two heavy blocks of wood legs were inserted about three feet 
in length. Three wooden jaws somewhat brought to an edge 
on the upper side, about five feet in length, were mortised into 
the upper surface of the blocks. Attached to the right-hand 
block with a hinge was a timber with two jaws same length of 
the lower and fitting in between them, with a heavy block at 
the other end to give it weight to break the flax as it fell. 
The man breaking flax would lay a roll or bundle across the 
lower jaws and let fall upon it the upper jaws, then lift them, 
shake the bundle to ,get out the dust and broken wooden 
fibre, shove the bundle a little farther over and let fall the 
jaws again, thus repeating till the day's work was done. By 
this means the woody fibre was largely taken out. The next 
step was to hatchel it. The hatchel in most common use con- 
sisted of a board about two feet in length and six inches in 
width. A space in the middle about six inches square was 



154 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

filled with iron teeth sharply pointed some four inches in 
length, closely and regulary set. They would lay this on the 
knee, teeth up, and draw the flax through the teeth for some 
time until the tow was gotten out. The tow was the coarser 
and broken part of the flax fibre. What was left was called 
flax and was fine, soft, smooth and straight in strands. This 
was then wound on to a distaff by hand. The distaff was a stick 
about two feet in length swelled out and made some six or 
eight inches in diameter in the middle by rattan or bambo 
bows. This was placed upright on an arm over the spinning 
wheel. The flax was spun into yarn on a small wheel, pro- 
pelled by the foot, the spinner sitting in a chair and feeding it 
to the spindle from the distaff. The yarn so spun was wound 
on to a reel, ten knots in a skein, and was ready for the loom. 
Many of the more prosperous farmers had a loom for weav- 
ing cloth in their homes, usually constructed by themselves, 
copying a neighbor's. The coarse fibre, called tow, was 
carded by hand to get it into rolls. The cards were large 
with short wire teeth, and one was held in each hand while 
carding. These rolls were spun into yarn on a large wheel, 
the spinner stepping forward and back the same as in spin- 
ning wool. Before carding, machines came into use the wool 
was all carded by hand in the same way. The flax thread was 
used as the warp of the cloth and the tow thread the woof. 
Those who had looms sold cloth more or less, and some wove 
cloth for those who had no looms. Others who made more 
cloth than they needed sold it to stores or exchanged it for 
goods they needed. 

That the tow cloth was coarse and harsh to the skin is not 
only easy to imagine, but we know it was from the tearful 
stories which many elderly people, who wore it, tell us. I 
judge from what I hear that the pants of most of the boys 
were made of tow. The experience of King S. Chittenden, 
Esq., with tow pants is both amusing and ludicrous. It 
comes to me so authoritatively that I do not hesitate to vouch 
for its accuracy, nor do I think he will deny it. His step- 
grandfather, Joseph Brush, had an old nag of a horse which 
he invariably rode to the village, and very often King would 
get on behind and ride back home with him. On one of 
these trips he had on a new pair of tow pants, and as the 
cloth had not been broken, limbered and softened by use 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 155 

they pricked him unmercifully as he sat on the horse, and so 
he kept wriggling and shifting his position to see if he could 
not become more comfortable. This annoyed Mr. Brush a Httle 
and he called out, " King, what is the matter with you? 
Why don't you keep still ? You'll get the old mare nervous 
and she will run away with us, if you don't be more careful." 
At this King explained that his tow pants were pricking him 
so terribly that he couldn't keep still. Mr. Brush replied, 
" I guess you can stand it. I've worn them the most of my 
life and I never made such a fuss about it." Thus reproved 
King did a little better, though he had to jump now and then. 
After quietly riding along a little way an idea caine to him 
and he cried out, " Grandpa, don't you think my pants are 
pricking the old mare too and that that is what is making 
hex act so?" This so pleased Mr. Brush that he had to dig 
his heels into the old mare's sides to keep from falling off, 
which added to the nag's excitement and away they went 
at a great pace. Mr. Brush often told this story to the day 
of his death. 

Mrs. Mary E. Jebo and Mr. and Mrs. E. B. Gray give 
me the foregoing story of primitive cloth making, with every 
stage of which they have had practical experience, and which I 
am sure will be read with interest by our younger people at 
least. Mrs. Gray has a linen table spread which was woven fifty- 
six years ago, and has been in continual use. It is in good 
shape to-day, not a break in it. Mr. and Mrs. Gray have 
lived in wedded life for over fifty-eight years, and both are in 
splendid mental and physical condition, Mrs. Gray keeping 
her home unaided. 

Mrs. Jebo still continues to use her loom. The pictures 
given were taken by Mr. Pressey from her machines, except 
that of the flax wheel which is the prized property of Mrs. 
Sarah Jane Dunbar, and the loom of Mrs. C. M. Speare of 
Potsdam. 



CHAPTER X. 

Tanneries in Village and Town — Hotels in Hopkinton Village — 
Physicians in Hopkinton Villag'e — The Mormons in Hopkin- 
ton — Electoral Census of J 82 J and J 835 — Postmasters in 
Hopkinton — The Old Stage Route. 

The first tannery in the town, as I have shown in another 
place, was the one built by EHakim Seeley on the east bank of 
Lyd Brook, about a quarter of a mile north of the Turnpike 
road. That was built as early as 1805, since we learn from 
Mr. Hopkins's old account book that he then sawed the plank 
for the vats. The vat holes can still be seen in the bank of 
the brook on the rear end of Mr. Arthur Flanders's lot. Mr. 
George S. Wright does not think this tannery was kept in use 
later than 1830. Mr. Seeley died January 3, 1842. 

There was also a tannery on the Hopkinton side of the 
river at East Village, an account of which is given in the 
story of that place. It outlived all other tanneries in town. 

Somewhere about 1820 a small tannery was put in opera- 
tion on the south side of the road and east bank of the brook 
which crosses the road just east of where Samuel Goodell re- 
sided. Joel Hosford was its proprietor for a time, and it was 
operated till about 1830. Josiah Moses remembers going 
there with his father with hides to be tanned, and Joseph T. 
Canfield, who lives near by, can recall seeing relics of the vats, 
and Charles H. Brush remembers his father pointing out its 
location to him. 

There were two in the village of Hopkinton. One was 
situated on the east side of Lyd Brook and just north of the 
Turnpike road. The other was a little farther east on the 
south side of the road, on the easterly side of the brook and 
just under the hill where Dr. Fayette P. Sprague long resided. 
The stone basement walls of this building are still standing. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 



157 



I have made great efforts to ascertain who built these tanneries 
and about when, but with rather poor success. No one hving, 
so far as I have been able to learn, can speak with any certainty 
on these points. 

Tannery on North Side of Road. 

I find on examination at the county clerk's office that John 
Henderson deeded the lot where the Goodnow house stands, 
and all the land in the rear of it and of Dr. Sprague's lot just 
east and of Artemus Kent's lot just west of it, north to the 
Trip Hammer or Sheals lot, extending in the rear from Lyd 
Brook east to the Culver lot, to Bushnell B. Moore, Novem- 
ber 2, 1822. On November i, 1827, he purchased the lot 
just west of the " Goodnow lot " of Artemus Kent, on which 
Chauncey D. Thomas had built a log house, and on Novem- 
ber 3 of the same year of Abraham Varick the small lot next 
west of the Kent lot to Lyd Brook. This gave him title to 
all the land west of Dr. Sprague to the brook and north to 
the Trip Hammer lot, including the old burying ground. 
Mr. Moore on the fourth day of June, 1834, conveyed all of 
said lands to Asa Durrell, who in turn, on the first day of 
March, 1840, conveyed the same to Asahel Kent. William 
Kent, his son, deeded the same to Ebenezer S. Hulburd, July 
I, 1845 ' ^^ to Zoraster Culver, August 2, 1846 ; he to Wil- 
liam E. Eastman, July i, 1849; and he to his son Royal 
S., March 28, 1874. This Is the story of the tannery and 
Goodnow house lot as told by the records at the clerk's office. 

Mr. Moore was somewhat active in town matters and lived 
for some years on these lands. In fact I am satisfied that he 
built the " Goodnow house," now standing, and also the first 
tannery on north side of the road. King S. Chittenden and 
others tell me that the first tannery vats were on the east bank 
of the brook and some considerable distance north from the 
highway. The Artemus Kent lot was only ten rods deep 
north, and this would place the vats north of the Kent lot. 
It may be that Mr. Moore started the first tannery with vats 
back from the road and bought the Kent and Varick lots, so 
as to command all the land south to the highway, which seems 
very natural and plausible. 

Asa Durrell became the owner of the property in June, 
1834, and it is well known that he was a tanner and currier 



158 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

and conducted such a business at this place. Nathaniel Good- 
now learned the trade of tanner of Mr. Moore, when he went 
to Ottawa, Canada, where he was foreman of a tannery until 
the latter part of the year 1839, when he returned to Hopkin- 
ton and purchased this tannery property, Mr. Durrell moving 
to Norfolk. His father-in-law, Asahel Kent, took title to it, 
no doubt in his interest, March i, 1840. Mr. Goodnow con- 
ducted it for many years and so long that it is still spoken of 
as the Goodnow tannery and home. 

There was a dam just below the bridge with a flume some 
thirty rods in length down the bank of the brook to the water 
wheel in the bark mill, a small building with a roof of four 
sides coming to a point in the centre at the top. Just north 
of this building or shed, for it was only boarded on the brook 
side, was a small building where the beaming of the leather 
was done. In one corner of this building there was for a time 
a machine for fulling cloth. Just east of these buildings, with 
an open space between, were the bark, tanning vats and 
leaches. After some years Mr. Goodnow built a roof over 
them, but not over the water and bate vats. The old curry 
and shoe shop run in connection with the tannery stood at 
the east end of the bridge and close up to the highway, with 
an elevated walk leading to it from the road. The tanning was 
done in the warm months and the hides all gotten out before 
freezing weather and taken to the curry shop, where they were 
finished in cold weather. 

In about i860 Mr. Goodnow built a new and more mod- 
ern tannery up nearer the road. He quit the business in 1870. 
After being idle three or four years Mr. Royal S. Eastman 
started it up again. He was a son of William E. Eastman 
and the last one to do a tannery business there, which he did 
until about 1883, when he converted it into a butter factory. 
As such it has since been used and is now owned and operated 
by Messrs. Trask & Converse. The old curry and shoe shop 
was moved across the brook and made into a dwelling, still in 
use. Mr. King S. Chittenden and the writer were unable to 
find any trace of the old vats. Mr. Goodnow lived till 1885, 
and was buried in Hopkinton with his wife and four of his 
children. The others of his family reside in Hutchinson, 
Minn. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 159 

Tannery on South Side of Road. 

The information which I have been able to gather as to 
this tannery is much less specific than that as to the other. The 
records at the clerk's office show that Thaddeus Laughlin con- 
veyed the lot next west of the Artemus Kent home lot, seven 
rods in width on the road and back to the brook, to Seymour 
Selleck, December 15, 1817. Mr. Selleck conveyed it to 
Horatio G. Munson in 1819 ; he to Zenas Clark in 18 19; he 
to Roswell H. Eastman, November 7, 182 1 ; he to his father, 
Samuel, in July, 1842; he to Aaron T. Hopkins in 1850; he 
to Fayette P. Sprague in January, 1857 ; and he to Varick A. 
Chittenden, May 16, 1866. 

Who started the tannery business there I am unable to 
say. Roswell H. Eastman went there as early as 1821, and 
did a tannery business a good part or all the time till 1841, 
when he exchanged the property with his father for a farm in 
Stockholm. In 1842 he exchanged this farm with his father 
for the farm on the south side of the Potsdam road opposite 
James Cotter, where he died September 20, 1842, as his 
daughter, Mrs. Alzina M. Benson of Pine Grove, 111., writes 
me. 

A Mr. Foster from Bangor or that vicinity and a Mr. 
Drake conducted the tannery from about 1842 to 1850, when 
Samuel Eastman sold it to his son-in-law, Aaron T. Hopkins 
of Potsdam, who did a large harness business at the latter 
place. Very likely he run it for a few years, making some of 
the leather for use in his shop. It was not in use as a tannery 
in Know Nothing times, since they used the upper floor as their 
meeting place. 

It is a little singular that more definite information as to 
these tanneries is not more readily obtainable. I suppose it 
is due to the fact that they were rather crude affairs and so 
numerous about the country in those days that people did not 
tax their minds with them. 

About all the leather from 1S03 to i860 used in the mak- 
ing of boots for men, shoes for women, harness and other 
articles was manufactured in local tanneries. Practically all of 
these goods were made in shops in every town, affording em- 
ployment to a large number of men. In addition to this, 
shoemakers travelled about, going to farmers' homes and there 
shoeing the whole family. Merrill Hosmer, whose father was 



i6o EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

a shoemaker, tells me that as late as i860 there were then up- 
wards of fifty men giving their whole time to the making and 
repairing of boots and shoes in Potsdam. In forty years the 
making of these goods, harness and other leather articles 
locally has almost entirely disappeared. They are now made 
in large shops in the cities by machines so deft in operation 
that they are almost human, each doing the work of several 
men. To-day, with the population of Potsdam twice what it 
was in 1850, I do not think there are over four shoemakers, 
and ninety-five per cent of their work is repairing. Whether 
this centralization and consolidation of work, wiping out of 
the small shops, does or is to redound to the general good I 
am not wise enough to say. Boots, shoes, etc., are cheaper 
than they were and very likely enough cheaper to offset the 
cost of manufacture which was formerly saved to the commu- 
nity by being paid to home manufacturers. 

Hotels in Hopfcinton Village. 

The first one, as I have stated in another place, was built " 
by Henry McLaughlin, very early, probably in 1804, on the 
south side or end of the present village Green. 

In 181 5, as we learn from Artemus Kent's diary, his son 
Thaddeus built a frame hotel across the road which for years 
has been the Laughlin home. 

The next hotel was that built by John Thomas on the 
Chittenden store corner in 18 16, as Mr. Artemus Kent tells 
us in his diary. The raising of this house was completed on 
the first day of July of that year. It was a good sized square 
structure with a hall on the second floor. This was used for 
some years as a lodge room by the Masons. 

John Thomas kept the house for a time at an early date. 
He painted it red with paint that he smuggled in from Canada. 
A customs officer came to the hotel one day and while chat- 
ting with Mr. Thomas asked him where he got his paint to 
make his house look so slick, and he quickly replied that it 
was some he had left. This evasive reply would probably 
have answered every purpose had not an old hen just then 
come running and fluttering out from under the barn and 
throwing the red ochre in all directions. " How is that?" said 
the officer, "there is an honest hen." "Yes," retorted Thomas, 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. i6i 

" but it don't cost her anything to be honest." The customs 
man crawled under the barn where he found the surplus paint, 
and Mr. Thomas settled. 

Philander Brown conducted the hotel for some years. He 
kept a temperance house and had a large sign across the hotel 
to that effect. I am surprised to learn that any one could 
think of successfully running a temperance hotel in those 
early times. Hardly any hotel proprietor even now dares to 
open a hotel without a license. His daughter Sarah A. 
married Dr. Fayette P. Sprague. Mr. Hunt, who at about 
1840 kept a store where V. A. Chittenden's residence stands, 
bought the hotel and not long after failed and went away. 

Benjamin Whitney kept it after Mr. Brown, but whether 
he succeeded him or not I cannot say. A Mr. Wood 
followed Mr. Whitney, and Sawyer & Church succeeded him. 

Thomas L. Howe, a brother of William S. Howe, was 
keeping it at the time it burned, May 5, 1848. His wife 
narrowly escaped by getting out of an upper window. Mr. 
Howe then went across the road and built over into a hotel a 
building which for years had been used alternately as a wheel- 
wright, cabinet and shoe shop, store and schoolhouse, and such 
building so rigged over is the present hotel. For a time it 
was covered with signs of various small industries that former 
and present occupants had put up. The proprietors of the 
hotel since Mr. Howe and the order of their occupancy to the 
best of my information are as follows : 

Charles Vincent, Elisha Martin, Harvey Sampson, Albion 
N. Merchant, Emery A. Hamlin, Michael D. Quinn (1868 

to 1873 ^^ least), Fletcher, Alexander Clark, Henry 

Wells, John Sullivan, Cornelius Murphy, George Prespare 
and now Cornelius Murphy. Mr. Hamlin has been for some 
years in the furniture business at Detroit, Mich. Mr. Quinn 
was quite a successful hunter of foxes, deer and other game, 
keeping a number of dogs for the chase. He had a famous 
hound called Moscow for which he refused I150. While on 
a fox hunt near Parker Converse's residence, Mr. Quinn's 
gun was accidentally discharged, wounding him in the arm 
and leg from which he soon died. 

There has not been a license in town for many years ex- 
cept for the years 1899, 1900, when the vote of the town- 
ship of Piercefield, which suddenly and heavily Increased in 



1 62 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

population, overwhelmed the north part of the town. The 
townships of Piercefield and Atherton were incorported into 
the town of Piercefield in 1900, and the old town, freed of its 
newborn settlement, has resumed its accustomed ways. 

Physicians in the Town. 

Dr. Stephen Langworthy was the first. I do not learn 
just when he came or left. His name first appears in Mr. 
Hopkins's account In 1807 and in the town records as late as 
1811. 

Dr. Gideon Sprague came in 1 811, since it is known that 
Joseph B. Durfey, now living at Parishville, N. Y., born No- 
vember 26 of that year, was the first child born after his com- 
ing. He remained in town till his death, August 28, 1859. 

Dr. Henry D. Laughlin left Hopkinton to locate in Og- 
densburg in August, 1835, where he practised till his death, 
June 1 8, 1865. How long he was in Hopkinton I cannot say. 

Dr. Henry M. Witherell practised in town from 1837 to 
1846, when he went to Waukegan, 111., where he became quite 
prominent. (See family.) 

Dr. Fayette P. Sprague, son of Gideon, began practice 
with his father, and remained in town till about 1866 when he 
went to Onalaska, Wis., where he died May 8, 1876. 

Dr. F. A. Cutter practised in town from 1866 to 1872. 

Dr. O. E. Hutchins began in 1872 and continued till 1875, 
when he went to Ogdensburg, where he now is. 

Dr. David Dayton came to town in 1875 and remained 
for five years. He is now located at Trinidad, Col. 

Dr. J. Q. Flood settled in town February 14, 1881, and 
has continued to this time. 

Physicians at Fort Jacfcson. 

Dr. Dyrgert, first resident physician, 1874 to 1878. 

Dr. B. A. Meacham, 1887 to 189 1. 

Dr. William Bigelow settled in 1895 ^°'' ^ short time. 

Dr. E. B. Wells located in 1901, still there. 

The Mormons in Hopkinton. 

They were not in town to settle and live and would not 
have been permitted to do so, especially with their plural 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 163 

wives. The faith of the people in the justice, fairness and 
decency of one wife and one mother in a family had been too 
long inculcated and was too ardently believed to permit any 
such practice to establish itself in their midst. They came 
only to proselyte and to get converts to leave home and join 
them in their Mormon settlement in Nauvoo, 111. I suppose 
the reason they came to this town was due to the fact that 
Joseph Smith, the founder of the faith, and Joseph Meacham, 
one of the apostles who came, both had distant relations in 
Hoplcinton and vicinity. 

The book of the Mormons, or Mormon Bible as It is 
called, did not appear in print till 1830. It was first printed 
by E. B. Grandin at Palmyra, N. Y. On the title-page of 
the first edition Joseph Smith, Jr., was credited with being the 
" author and proprietor." In subsequent editions this was 
changed to " translated by Joseph Smith, Jr." When a lad 
of only eighteen he claimed that the hiding place of this 
work or Bible written on thin sheets of gold plate and buried 
in the earth on the hillside not far distant from his home was 
revealed to him in a vision or dream. He was an illiterate 
youth and his family not well regarded. After long abase- 
ment of himself to make his spirit clean and pure, an angel led 
him to the plates. These he translated to an amanuensis sit- 
ting on the other side of a curtain which shielded the plates 
from contamination. 

An elder of the Mormon faith by the name of Appleton 
and an apostle by the name of Joseph Meacham came to 
Hopkinton in the winter of 1843, and began their evangehs- 
tic work. Mr. Meacham was a distant relation of the large 
family by that name then and still living in Hopkinton and 
vicinity. He went west at an early date and becoming a con- 
vert to Mormonism no doubt felt that he could do most suc- 
cessful work proselyting among his numerous relations. The 
late Royal Smith of Nicholville was a cousin of Joseph, the 
founder of Mormonism, but he took no stock in his cousin, 
at least in his doctrines, and the coming of an apostle direct 
from Joseph had no influence upon him. 

Reaching town they at once set to work in the way of 
seeking converts, holding meetings here and there, preaching, 
exhorting and expounding their doctrines. The most of their 
meetings were held in what is now the red schoolhouse on the 



i64 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

road from Nicholville to Dickinson Centre, the block school- 
house above Nicholville, near the residence of R. F. Fisk, 
and in the schoolhouse, long since gone, that stood just east 
of Joel Goodell's. They succeeded in arousing considerable 
interest and feeling in their doctrines and gained quite a 
number of converts. Several were baptized in the new faith 
at Dickinson. 

In the following spring they picked up their converts, 
rigged out several wagons with canopy tops after the prairie 
schooner fashion and started for the then Mecca of Mormon- 
ism, Nauvoo, 111. Those who accompanied them at this 
time, as near as can now be learned, were Hiram Mead, wife 
and two daughters, Norman Meacham and wife, Stephen 
Meacham, wife and some seven or eight children, all daugh- 
ters but one or possibly two, George Haskell and wife, Joseph 
Meacham, a relative of the apostle, and Polly and Susan 
Moses. The party was considerably augmented by additions 
at Russell, N. Y., and at various points in western New York. 
After a long and tedious journey they reached their destina- 
tion, but to most, if not all of them it did not prove the haven 
■of rest and peace which they had anticipated. 

Mr. Hiram Mead was quite a prominent man in town and 
owned or held the west part of the farm of Samuel Goodell, 
the buildings on which have disappeared. 

After living with the Mormons for a time quite a number of 
the party were sick and disgusted of the whole business and 
sovight to leave them and return home, but they found that it 
was much easier to join the Mormons than to disassociate 
themselves. Apostasy was a high offence to a Mormon and 
merited death from his view point. Others who had been 
brought in from different sections felt as they did, and in their 
efforts to get away found it not only troublesome but a little 
dangerous. The trouble and fate of others in their efforts to 
escape made those who had gone from this locality wary in 
their movements to return. 

The Mormons at Nauvoo, where they had settled in 1838, 
having been driven out of Missouri, constituted a settlement 
of between fifteen and twenty thousand people, and it must be 
conceded were a thrifty, orderly and prosperous community. 
Joseph Smith was mayor of the town, and his adherents 
filled all the offices. And yet, sparsely settled as was that 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 165 

country then and powerful as were the Mormons, the Gentiles 
succeeded in having Joseph and his brother Hiram arrested 
and thrown into prison at Carthage, Mo. Hearing that the 
governor of the state was disposed to let them escape, a mob 
broke into the jail and shot them to death, June 27, 1844. 

It was reported and understood here that Norman 
Meacham's apostasy and efforts to get away cost him his life. 
Mr. Mead and family, the wife of Norman Meacham and 
Stephen Meacham only of his family succeeded in getting 
away, returning to this locality a sadder and wiser people. 
Mr. Mead finally settled on Water Street below Nicholville, 
where he lived many years, moving to Parishville, where he 
died a faithful and consistent member of the Methodist Church 
several years ago. No one of that little band is now alive, so 
far as is known, to tell the story of their pilgrimage and sad 
experience in a new faith. 

Stephen Meacham on his return was a poor, disconsolate, 
broken-hearted man. The Mormons held his wife, five 
daughters and one or two sons as I remember, and he never 
saw them again. His father, Thomas, was the most noted 
hunter in all this section. Stephen, having a fondness for 
hunting, became a recluse and took to the woods for a home. 
His camp was several miles southeast of Parishville village 
and only a mile or so from the mouth of Stony Brook. 
Here he had a "kennel " about five feet high, seven feet long 
and four wide, made by driving poles into the ground for a 
habitation. The roof was of poles and bark. The opening 
was at one end, close to which he built his fire. The entire 
house was used as a bed, except that he kept his packages of 
food and old clothes which people gave him in the corners. 
The bed, when I saw it on a fishing trip in June, 1862, with 
Calvin Cutler as a guide, was a mass of worn, old clothing a 
foot or more in depth. When a garment got too badly worn 
to wear he would lay it under him. The bed was much hol- 
lowed by his weight, rising on either side. We could not 
find that he had any blanket or covering. Possibly he had 
hidden these in the woods while away. He was a great 
hunter, also, till his eyesight got too poor and he too infirm. 
There was a small clearing in which he tried to raise a few 
potatoes, but with poor success. He was not at home when 
we called and I was very sorry. Poor old man ! Even as a 



1 66 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

boy I used to pity him. He came to my father's for years 
regularly every two or three months with an axe and a pack 
hung upon it on his back. My mother saved all the odds 
and ends for him. His hair and beard were long and white 
and his face sad and disconsolate, giving him the look of a 
patriarch, which maybe he was. Life was one eternal wail for 
his wife and children. My sister AUce when a little girl 
would comb his hair, chat with and wait on him, which greatly 
diverted and pleased him. He called her his " little Queene," 
and longed to reach her home when he came to die. A year 
or so before his death he heard from a son in California 
through the assistance of my father, and got a little help. 
How he longed to go to him ! 

In the winter of 1869 when out on one of his trips he 
took sick at A. B. Cutting's in Parishville, which was one of 
his stopping places, where he died February 27. The snow 
was deep and the kind, gentle, sad old man had taken his last 
tramp. How fortunate that he reached so generous and hos- 
pitable a home in which to die ! 

When the band of Mormon converts left Hopkinton 
for Nauvoo the small dog of Mr. Mead followed them some 
four hundred miles into the state of Ohio, the constant com- 
panion by day, faithful sentinel at night and a general favorite 
of all. Tiring of the journey for some reason, perhaps not 
having been fully converted, or perhaps having a pre- 
monition of the trouble in store for the party, he stole 
away, abandoned the party in disgust and retraced his steps, 
surprising as it may seem, to Hopkinton, N. Y. Weeks 
after the departure of the party the dog came to the home 
of Mr. Henderson, a neighbor of Mr. Mead's, footsore and 
emaciated. They knew him and took him in and cared for 
him. On the return of Mr. Mead and family the following 
year, no one greeted them more warmly and affectionately 
than did this little red dog. In his journey back he could 
read no signs, make no inquiries as to the right road to 
Buffalo, to Syracuse, to Watertown, to Hopkinton, and yet 
most men, selfish in their reasoning ability, only allow the dog 
the cheap faculty called instinct. 

I am indebted to an article in the Courier and Freeman in 
January, 1900, written by E. A. Wood of Nicholville, for quite 
a portion of the information contained in the foregoing article. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 
Electoral Census of I82J. 



167 



Head of each family. 





lb b 


£ 1 J 


6 


ffi 


« 


> 


>^ 


iS 


Abbott, Seth . . . i . 


• •■ 1 35 


12 


5 


2Z 


16 


'7 


74 


Abbott, Samuel 




I 12 


7 


3 


'3 


18 


16 


77 


Arquit, Michael . 




• •• 1 4 


2 


I 








13 


Armstrong, Jasper 






2 


2 


26 


38 


33 


94 


Abbott, Jonathan B. 




. .. I 8 


I 




9 


20 


35 


50 


Armstrong, Chester 




I 


I 


I 




30 


4 




Allen, Elisha . . 






8 


4 




16 


8 


6 




Brooks, Hosea 






8 


5 


2 


7 


20 


•4 


'•5 


Brush, loseph 






40 


24 


5 


35 


35 


48 


165 


Brush, Eliphalet . 






30 


19 


5 


30 


28 


40 


58 


Brush, William 






'5 


3 


I 










Blanchard, Amasa, Jr 






20 


6 




26 


21 


1 1 


25 


Blanchard, Amasa, Sr. 






20 


7 


2 


37 


24 


46 


43 


Baldwin, Nath'l . 






50 


•9 


3 


Z7 


zo 


20 


60 


Bastin, Daniel C. 






50 


17 




'4 


20 


10 


100 


Bush, Eli . . . 






I 


I 






10 


1 2 




Bushnell, Simeon . 






10 


7 




1 2 


I 2 


10 


3° 


Coolidge, Isaiah . 








2 




•9 


12 


13 


29 


Converse, Calvin 






1 2 


2 






5 


10 




Covey, David 






20 


7 




3° 


25 


61 


75 


Covey, Martin 








3 






21 


2 


5 


Chubb, Loren 


1 . . I 




2 


12 




2 1 


25 


Chubb, Joseph 


I . . I 30 


8 


2 


18 




9 


30 


Clemonds, Joseph 


















Chandler, Abijah 




I .. 15 


5 


2 


24 


10 


10 


20 


Chandler, Abjiah, Jr, 




12 


3 


I 










Chandler, Harry . 




10 


6 




I 2 


1 2 






Chandler, Samuel 




1 12 


7 


I 


'4 


1 1 


22 




Curtis, John . 






2 








10 




Cook, Ivory . 






I 












Dewey, Jared 




15 


4 


3 


7 


I 2 


7 




Durfey, Phineas . 




40 


24 


4 


38 


27 


32 


220 


Durfey, loseph 




25 


12 




25 


i8 


16 


100 


Durfey, William S. 






I 










30 


Day, Thomas 




4 


7 




8 


8 


4 


13 


Eastman, Samuel . 




2 100 


37 


7 


42 


37 


z6 


95 


Greene, Henry C. 




20 


9 


1 


33 


•4 


9 


103 


Goodell, Joel . 




70 


•7 


3 


35 


18 


60 


100 


Goodell, Samuel . 




30 


9 


2 


2 


16 


40 




Gould, Joel 








7 




12 




6 


40 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 



Head of each family. 



Gould, Jeremiah . 
Hopkins, Isaac R. 
Hopkins, Roswell 
Harris, Samuel 
Henderson, Chester F 
Henderson, John . 
Johnson, H. S. 
Kent, Asahel . 
Kent, Artemas 
Kennedy, Hugh . 
Laughlin, Thaddeus 
Leonard, Rufos 
Mosher, Philip 
Meacham, Stephen 
Meacham, Thomas, J 
Moon, Asa 
Moon, Barney 
Newton, Samuel S. 

Phelps, . . 

Pomeroy, John P. 
Peck, Nathan 
Putnam, Seth . 
Post, Elias 
Palmer, Harry 
Palmer, Clemuns . 
Peck, Azariah 
Perry, John 
Peak, Nathan . 
Risdon, Elisha 
Remington, Stillman C. 
Roburds, Eli . 
Ransom, Stephen . 
Rinehart, Henry . 
Reed, John 
Ransom, John 
Sanford, Jonah 
Squire, Ashbel 
Sprague, Gideon . 
Sheldon, Gaius 
Seeley, Eliakim 
Simonds, Sam'l M. 
Spencer, William . 



■5 I. - 
£ d! S 



•5 


35 


50 




10 


5 


20 


I 

6 


40 


4 


20 


'3 


24 


6 


1 2 


I 


40 


25 


35 


10 


3 


3 


50 


5 


30 


•3 


10 


4 



30 


5 


30 


13 


40 


>3 




2 




2 


8 


14 


10 


6 


25 


2 


22 


5 


45 


1 2 



15 

50 
50 

5 
55 
28 

'3 



25 



•4 



c 

1 

in 


■S 3 

-s i 

>> 






90 


40 


75 


115 




24 


37 




13 


7 


35 


37 




3 


10 


31 


6 


12 


10 


10 


43 


20 


30 




33 


3' 


40 


60 


22 


22 


'9 


8 


•4 


3 


22 


87 


46 


75 


60 


•34 


20 


10 




75 






15 


10 


18 


1 1 


'5 


•5 


37 


20 


47 


100 






10 


40 




9 


16 


72 




5 


15 


10 


H 


4 


30 


50 


27 


'5 


20 


20 


28 


•5 


20 


85 


1 1 


17 


25 


58 


2 


>4 


18 





40 
31 

"4 
17 



25 
9 



•7 
32 
32 



52 

40 

'4 

16 



35 

4 

40 

35 
24 



15 
105 

54 
38 



200 
90 

210 

75 
40 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 



169 





1 


«? 




E 


s 








1-^' 


s 


S 


Head of each family. 




1 

1 


e 


"S CI. 

H 


> 


i 

c3 





C 

■a 


ll 


(11 
>• 


,» 

>< 


Squire, Eli 








2 


20 


5 


2 


3' 


33 


30 


5z 


Squire, Asa 




1 






20 


5 




9 


5 


15 


70 


Sheldon, Heman . 










30 


9 


2 


24 


20 


20 


60 


Smitli, Isaiah . 










5 


4 










50 


Spencer, William . 
























Tinkham, Albe . 










I 


4 


2 


I 


8 


1 2 




Thomas, Chauncey D 










6 


2 


I 


14 


20 


20 


29 


Taylor, Ebenezer 












I 




9 








Taylor, Jonathan . 












I 


I 


5 




'3 


25 


Thomas, John 










50 


19 


4 


23 


20 


25 


45 


Trussell, Samis 










18 


18 


6 


•5 


15 


20 


40 


Trussell, Isaac 










12 


7 


2 


34 


10 


■5 


40 


Train, Horace 










30 


6 


I 


22 


I 2 


25 


53 


Thomas, James . 










I 


2 




1 2 


12 


16 


'5 


Warner, Aaron . 










50 


21 


3 


29 


30 


25 


144 


Wright, Caleb . 










60 


34 


4 


36 


27 


53 


67 


Warriner, Willis . 










3 


4 




1 1 


15 


27 


73 


Wead, John K. . 










20 


5 


2 


26 


30 


25 


30 


Wead, Stephen 








I 




I 


I 










Woodworth, Josiah E. 








1 




I 








8 


•3 


Wilson, Samuel . 












2 












Wright, Eben 






1 




9 


2 










49 



69 13 13 28 1892 768 145 1611 1376 i868 4478 

The foregoing electoral return for the town was taken and made 
by Elisha Risdon and verified by him October i, 1821, before 
Isaac R. Hopkins, justice of the peace. 



I70 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Manufactories in Town then. 

Roswell Hopkins, Eli Roburds, Samuel Wilson, Abijah 
Chandler, Jr., had sawmills. Roswell Hopkins had a grist- 
mill. John K. Wead and Samuel Wilson had carding ma- 
chines. Stephen Wead and Eli Bush had asheries. John 
Thomas had a distillery. 

The sawmill of Mr. Hopkins I am unable to locate with 
certainty, but feel sure it stood on Lyd Brook down near the 
present cemetery as I have shown in another place. Mr. 
Roburds's mill was a mile south of the village on Lyd Brook 
across the road from the present mill of Benjamin Collins. 
Mr. Wilson's mill was at Nicholville, on Hopkinton side, 
built in 1 8 17 and stood where the present mil! does. 

In all my research I first learn that Mr. Chandler had a 
sawmill, in this census report. Where it stood I cannot say, 
though I suspect on the Lawrence side at Nicholville. The 
gristmill of Mr. Hopkins at this time stood on the west bank 
of Lyd Brook in the village some twenty rods north of the 
Turnpike. A history of it is given elsewhere. 

Mr. Wead's carding mill stood, I feel sure, on the east 
bank of Lyd Brook, about halfway down to the cemetery. 
The lot is next south of Arthur Flanders. The carding 
mill of Mr. Wilson stood just below and close to the south 
end of the bridge at Nicholville. The name Stephen Wead 
I do not meet elsewhere. His ashery may have stood on the 
west bank of Lyd Brook in the village and on the north or 
south side of the Turnpike, and been the forerunner of Clark 
S. Chittenden's or Zoraster Culver's asheries which stood 
there respectively and were run for years. The ashery of Eli 
Bush was in or near the settlement at Nicholville. The dis- 
tillery of Mr. Thomas was on the southerly bank of the river, 
in the rear of the residence of Samuel Goodell. 

Location of New Settlers not given in Article on that Subject. 

Jonathan B. Abbott was a son of Seth and lived with his 
father, where he died in 1825. He contracted for forty acres 
off the west side of the David French lot on the Sanford road 
where he had the eight acres of improved land given in the 
census. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 171 

Chester Armstrong came to town shortly before i8ai,and 
settled on the Hopkinton side at Nicholville. 

Elisha Allen settled a few rods north of the Turnpike, 
some two miles northeast of Nicholville. The brook near by 
is still called Allen's Brook. He came in quite early, as his 
name appears in the census of 1807, yet he does not seenv to 
have taken the first title to any land. 

Eli Bush came about 1820 and built a house on the west 
side of the road at the top of the hill on the Hopkinton side 
at Nicholville. It was used for some time as a hotel. 

Simeon Bushnell settled very early about a mile northeast 
of Nicholville. His title was March 4, 18 10, and is the first 
title or one of the very first in Chesterfield. (See sketch of 
him among the pioneers of that township.) 

Calvin Converse settled opposite Mr. Bush's place. 

John Curtis and Ivory Cook I am unable to place. 

The Chubbs, Loren and Joseph, one or both lived on the 
road leading from the cemetery to the Gaius Sheldon place. 

Thomas Day took up a tract a mile northeast of Nichol- 
ville on the south side about 1812. And yet I see he had 
only four acres of improved land in 1821. (See story of his 
family.) 

Joel Gould lived about a mile above Jared Dewey's. 

Samuel Harris settled a short distance down Ferris Street 
in the winter of 1808-9, ^"^ had only ten acres of im- 
proved land in 1821. (See sketch of him and his family.) 

Rufus Leonard, Henry Rinehart, John Ransom, Albe 
Tinkham, Ebenezer and Jonathan Taylor and Samis Trus- 
sell I am unable to locate. 

John P. Pomeroy built the house north of the junction 
of the Northwest Bay road with the Turnpike. It is a long, 
low house and by some thought to be one of the oldest houses 
in town. 

The name Phelps (spelled Felps) only is given. I think 
it must mean Jacob Phelps, as he came to town in June, 
1821. 

Clemens C. Palmer had a house at or near the north end 
of the bridge in Nicholville. It is claimed by some to have 
been the first house in that village. He was the first post- 
master at Nicholville, receiving his appointment January 7, 
1871. 



172 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Stephen Ransom lived for a time near the river in the 
rear of Samuel Goodell's farm. (See map.) 

John Reed settled near Samuel Harris on Ferris Street. 

William Spencer got title to one hundred acres June 6, 
1828, near Water Street schoolhouse. 

Isaac Trussell took up a tract two and a half miles north- 
east of Nicholville. (See story of his family.) 

Comments on the Census. 

At this time, 1821, the town had been actually settled 
eighteen years, though, of course, at first by only a few men. 
I confess I am surprised at the small number of improved 
acres. Samuel B. Abbott, then living where Elisha Risdon 
afterwards lived and died, had only twelve acres of improved 
land; Eliphalet Brush, who got title to his farm in 1804, only 
thirty; Jared Dewey, who took deed in 1803, only fifteen ; 
Samuel Goodell, a pioneer of 1803, only thirty; Asa Moon 
(Jonah Sanford, Jr., homestead), only thirty ; Elisha Risdon, 
then on Potsdam road, only twenty-two; Eli Squire, a pioneer 
of 1803, only twenty. 

There were only twelve men who had fifty acres or more 
improved, to wit, Nathaniel Baldwin, Daniel C. Bastin, Samuel 
Eastman, Joel Goodell, Roswell Hopkins, Thomas Meacham, 
Jr., Jonah Sanford, Ashbel Squire, Gaius Sheldon, John 
Thomas, Aaron Warner and Caleb Wright ; and only three 
of these had over fifty, viz., Samuel Eastman, one hundred; 
Joel Goodell, seventy ; and Gaius Sheldon, fifty-five. 

The small number of horses is also surprising. Many of 
the settlers only had one horse and several not any. How- 
ever, we should bear in mind that most of the heavy work 
was done with oxen. Judging from what they had accom- 
plished at this time in the way of clearing land, I cannot help 
suspecting that our grandparents and great-grandparents were 
not such terrific and persistent workers as we have been led 
by tradition to believe. That they were a poor and struggling 
people this inventory shows conclusively and beyond any 
question. Perhaps they were so sorely pressed with the 
problem of how to live that they could not clear their land 
any faster. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 



173 



Census of the Town for the Year J 835. 

Number male persons in town 

Number female persons in town 

Number subject to militia duty 

Number entitled to vote 

Number aliens not naturalized 

Number married females under forty-five years 

Number unmarried between sixteen and forty-five y 

Number unmarried under sixteen years 

Number birtlis, male 16, female, 20 . 

Number deaths year 1834, male 7, female 

Number acres improved 

Number neat cattle . 

Number horses 

Number sheep 

Number hogs 

Number yards fulled cloth in domestic way 

Number yards ilannel 

Number yards linen, cotton, etc. 

Number deaf and dumb . 

Number sawmills 

Value raw materials used in each 

Value manufactured articles in each 

Number fulling mills 

Value raw materials used . 

Value manufactured articles 

Number carding machines 

Value raw materials used . 

Value manufactured articles 

Number asheries 

Value raw materials used . 

Value manufactured goods 

Number tanneries 

Value raw materials used . 

Value manufactured goods 



44' 
469 



1 20 

74 
21 7 

36 

'4 

3,129 

1,294 

260 

2.953 

771 

1,881 

2,169 

2,262 

2 

3 

SS25 

^1,050 

I 

51,500 

f3,ooo 

Si, 200 
82,400 



^1,500 



$1,050 



Postmasters, Hopktnton Village, with Date of Appointment. 

Thaddeus Laughlin, January I, 1808. 
Clark S. Chittenden, July 15, 1841. 
Zoraster Culver, August 6, 1845. 
Clark S. Chittenden, October 16, 1849. 
Fayette P. Sprague, August 15, 1853. 
Northrop Morse, June 30, 1855. 
Clark S. Chittenden, December 27, 1855. 
S. C. Remington, February 9, 1857. 
King S. Chittenden, April 23, 186 1. 
J. Q. Flood, August 18, 1885. 



174 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Varick A. Chittenden, May i6, 1889. 
J. H. Macomber, March 31, 1894. 
Jay H. Chittenden, November 3, 1898. 

Postmasters at Fort Jackson. 

FrankUn Kellogg, April 3, 1873. 
Calvin Miller, November 6, 1885. 
A. E. Ober, August 2, 1889. 
Varick A. Cutler, April 13, 1894. 
Martin L. Clifford, March 16, 1898. 

The Old Stage Route, 

After the territory between Plattsburg and Ogdensburg 
had become considerably settled, John Thompson of Malone 
conceived the idea of starting a mail route between these places. 
This was probably in 1830 or a little later. He began with a 
mail bag which he carried on his back, covering the distance of 
one hundred and eighteen miles in about a week, leaving and 
taking mail, very largely letters, at all the little places. Ac- 
cordingly it took him two weeks to get back to Plattsburg, 
which was the starting point. This he continued for about 
six months, when he got a horse and made the trip on horse- 
back and in much quicker time. Being successful in this and 
seeing the necessity for carrying passengers and parcels, he got 
a span of horses and wagon which he used for a time. Emi- 
gration from the east was quite large at that time and steadily 
increasing. Many of those coming in were young men on 
foot seeking a tract of land or employment. There was also 
a good deal of travel to the east by settlers going back to Ver- 
mont on social or business errands. Mr. Thompson proved 
to be a man equal to the occasion. He soon exchanged his 
wagon for an old-fashioned coach and added a second span of 
horses. Then as the business grew and demanded he put on 
further and additional coaches, dividing the route into six sec- 
tions with a station for each. Among the earlier drivers for 
Mr. Thompson were John Roberts, who died in Chateaugay, 
and William Andrews of Malone. The business under Mr. 
Thompson grew to large proportions, when in 1846 or 1847 
he sold the entire route to Messrs. Roberts and Andrews. 
They were men of small means, but being bright, ambitious 
and thoroughly conversant with the business made a small 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 175 

fortune in the eight or nine years that they conducted it. 
After the completion of the Northern Railroad in 1850, the 
business steadily grew less, when it was finally given up about 
1856. The horse, noble animal that he is, could not survive 
in the struggle with the locomotive. The day of the stagecoach, 
exciting and exhilarating as it was, had gone. The grandsons 
of Mr. Thompson now compose the firm of Thompson 
Brothers in Malone. 

Mr. Simeon D. Bridge of Canton, N. Y., now seventy- 
four years of age, to whom I am indebted for the information 
contained in this article, began as a driver on the route in 
1847, when he was nineteen years of age. At that time there 
were three hundred horses in use or ready for use on the 
route, from fifteen to twenty professional drivers and many 
coaches and wagons. The horses were mostly purchased 
along the route, costing from fifty to seventy-five dollars, and 
lasted from three to five years. Usually there were four 
horses to a coach and sometimes six, the number being deter- 
mined by the number of passengers. The route from Odgens- 
burg ran to Flackville, Canton, Potsdam, Parishville, Hop- 
kinton, Nicholville, Bangor, Malone, Burke, Chateaugay, 
Centerville and so on to Plattsburg. As previously stated 
the entire route was divided into six sections, and the horses 
in each section were changed after a drive of about eighteen 
miles. Mr. Bridge drove on each of the six sections, but the 
most of his nine years was on the section from Ogdensburg 
to Potsdam. He left Ogdensburg at two o'clock in the morn- 
ing, changed horses at Potsdam and returned to Ogdensburg 
about six p. m. The fare from Ogdensburg to Plattsburg 
was five dollars, to Canton one dollar, and to Potsdam one 
dollar and fifty cents, and always collected in advance. This 
fee included the carrying of baggage to the extent of fifty 
pounds. If it weighed more an extra charge was made. The 
large wooden trunk of that period and all heavy freight were 
hauled independently by the freight teams. The drivers used 
to throw off the mail to the farmers along the route and do 
errands for them and others, for which they got a small fee in 
addition to their m.onthly wage of fifteen dollars and board. 
He collected all the fares and settled with the proprietors 
every month. They also carried considerable money for the 
banks, then located at Ogdensburg, Malone and Plattsburg, 



176 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

and Mr. Bridge says there was never a highway robbery on 
the route. The coach often carried eighteen to twenty people, 
and Mr. Bridge says he carried as many as twenty-seven per- 
sons in a single load. 

The roads, at least the stage route, were better than they 
are now, because more labor was expended on them. There 
was also far more travel then than now. Mr. Bridge says' 
that he often passed from fifty to seventy-five teams in going 
from Potsdam to Ogdensburg and that every now and then as 
many as forty teams would put up at night at the old Ameri- 
can House in Canton. 

During the first part of Mr. Bridge's career on the route 
one Thomas Cox kept the Parish Hotel in Parishville, and 
during the latter part one Bill Greeley. At Nicholville a man 
by the name of Wilson kept the hotel in the gulf and Sam 
Roberts the one on the top of the hill. 

During the latter years of the coach driving it came from 
the east every other day through Lawrenceville to Potsdam, 
instead of by way of Parishville every day as formerly. 

The coach drivers, so far as Mr. Bridge can remember, be- 
ginning with the earliest, were the Selleck brothers of Parish- 
ville, one called Uriah and the other" Bone," a Mr. Lamphear 
of Potsdam, John Farnsworth of Ogdensburg, Jack Fuller 
of Canton, Thomas Goodman, James Kildey and Rasselas 
Bridge. 

Mr. Bridge is very sanguine that he is the sole survivor of 
the men who drove on the route. 



CHAPTER XI. 

Fort Jackson — Its Early Settlement — Water Power, Shops and Mills 
— History of its Three Church Societies — Its Postmasters and 
Physicians. 

Although the east branch of the St. Regis River passes 
through a rather narrow defile in the rocks at this place and 
with considerable of a fall, making it easy to harness for power 
purposes, yet, for some reason, it did not seem to attract at- 
tention sufficiently to become settled for some years after the 
settlement of Islington. Why it was not at once taken and 
settled, if for no other reason than the water power there 
offered, it would be difficult to say, but, I suspect, it was 
owing to the fact that Mr. Hopkins brought in about all the 
settlers, who, naturally, felt under obligation to buy land of 
him up in Islington. Then, too, all the mills and shops were 
built along Lyd Brook, which, it was at first thought, had 
ample water power for all practical purposes, and they 
wished to settle as near by as possible. With the country all 
a wilderness save here and there a little clearing, the people 
dreaded to go far off by themselves to live alone in the 
woods. 

The falls at the East Village (Nicholville), more expensive 
to utilize than these, were taken and a dam built as early as 
1 817 by Samuel Wilson, but those there were on the route 
to and from Vermont, by the people of Islington, which fact, 
no doubt, aided in their development. 

The Sawmill of J824 — Namingf of the Settlement. 

I find that Isaac R. Hopkins early purchased a tract lying 
principally on the south side of the river and taking in all or 
about all of the present village lying on both sides of the 
river. A glance at the map will show the tract purchased by 
him. In 1824 he built a sawmill there, which stood just 
above the present gristmill. The story has come down that 



1 78 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

at the time of the raising of the frame of the mill the people 
present to assist, which, of course, in those days, comprised 
all the able' bodied men of that neighborhood, grown boys 
and no doubt some women, took it into their own hands to 
name the settlement. Mr. Hopkins and sons were all Whigs 
up to the breaking out of the Civil War, when they became 
strong Democrats. The sentiment at the Fort at this time 
was decidedly Democratic and the men of that faith with loud 
acclaim settled on the name. Fort Jackson, in honor of 
Andrew Jackson, who was then in great popular favor. When 
the excitement was at its height a man taking a bottle of 
whiskey rushed up on to the timbers of the mill and breaking 
the bottle against a post cried out in a stentorian voice, "I 
christen this settlement and village Fort Jackson." Mr. 
Zebina Coolidge thinks the man who did this was Erastus 
Reeve or, possibly, his son Benjamin,'who was then seventeen 
years old. I am indebted to Mr. Coolidge and George S. 
Wright, Esq., for the foregoing. 

Mr. Zebina Coolidge in April, 1826, then ten years of 
age, moved down on to what is now known as the Robert 
McEwen farm on Merchant Street in Lawrence with his father. 
The bridge then was where the upper bridge now is and had 
heavy hard wood planks for a flooring. These had not been 
nailed down and had warped and twisted into all sorts of 
shapes. In driving over the bridge on a trot the rattle and 
noise of these planks when dry were something great. It was 
so loud that he says they could often on a still night down 
on the McEwen farm hear Dr. Sprague go thundering over 
the bridge. 

Early Settlers at the Fort. 

The first people to settle in and about the village as now 
recalled by Mr. Coolidge were as follows: 

Carlos Humphrey was one of the first, who was a black- 
smith. He had a shop on the south side of the river and on 
the north side of the road opposite the present residence of 
Philo A. Davis. He married Julia A., daughter of David 
Covey, and nothing is known of her or them by any of the 
numerous descendants of David Covey. Mr. Humphrey's 
brother William kept a blacksmith shop up near Joseph Dur- 
fey's. The two brothers went to western New York or 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 179 

Ohio at an early date, since which time no trace of them can 
be learned. 

Harry Wead had a small house just west of the stone 
residence afterward built by Franklin Kellogg and where later 
stood the hotel of Mr. Ezra Fuller, of which it was a part, which 
latter was destroyed by fire in December, 1900. When Mr. 
Kellogg settled at the Fort he first lived in this Wead house. 

Erastus Reeve lived on the north side and in a house 
which stood where the Baptist parsonage now stands, and died 
there. He had quite a family of boys, Benjamin, Champion J., 
Stephen, Tapping, Charles J. and Sheldon, all of whom after 
a time went west, except Benjamin, who settled near Beecher- 
town in Stockholm. 

Chauncey Chittenden, an elder brother of Clark S., had a 
farm on the south side, about a quarter of a mile westerly of 
the village. 

One of the first shops at the Fort was a woollen mill built 
by Ros. Laughlin. He ran it for a time, but as the work 
injured his health he sold out, or took in at first a Mr. Lyman 
as a partner. A Mr. Ezra Hyde soon became a partner of 
Lyman. They conducted it some years. The shop stood 
near where the sawmill now stands. Whether it was there 
before or after the erection of the sawmill I cannot say. In 
1853 the old shop was turned halfway round and moved 
south a little to make room for the building of the gristmill. 
About this time Samuel Crook was using it as a wheelwright 
shop and did for some years. 

Noah Post was one of the early settlers at the Fort. His 
house was the one in which his son David so long lived and 
recently died. Noah was a cooper and had a shop across the 
road and down near the sawmill. He was a son of Reuben, 
the pioneer of Hopkinton. His son Henry while fishing fell 
into the flume of the mill and was drowned. Mr. Zebina 
Coolidge still has a tub made by Mr. Post, in which they set 
the milk for making cheese, that is now in practically as good 
condition as when made ; and Henry Wells also has a cedar 
wash tub made by him which is yet in fine condition. 

Moses Haselton was an early settler and about one mile 
north and down the river. His son Albainas lived there un- 
til his death. The latter's son Silas resides there on the 
old place. David, another son of Moses, lived there for a 



i8o EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

time and then went to Wisconsin. A daughter, Harriet, be- 
came the wife of Lee Eastman. 

Martin Covey, a brother of David, was also an early set- 
tler. He lived across the road from P. A. Davis's present 
residence. His daughter Susan married William Eastman, 
and she and her husband went there to live late in life. 

Isaac Austin settled at an early date about a mile down 
the river on the north side. His son Harmon lives about a 
mile above the Fort on the north side. He had the old 
musket which Isaiah Coolidge, father of Zebina, carried in the 
War of 1 8 12, but recently sold it to Charles H. Brush. 

Hugh Kennedy was living in 1826 in a log house on the 
north side at the end of the bridge where Franklin Kellogg 
afterwards had a store and where his son, Franklin Kellogg, 
now lives. 

The Gfeat Freshet of J 830. 

In June of the year 1830 the greatest freshet ever known 
in Hopkinton took place. It swept away, or at least practi- 
cally, all the bridges, dams, mills and shops at East Village 
and Fort Jackson. The fulling mill of Mr. Hyde was moved 
bodily down stream some distance and torn to pieces on the 
rocks. For some time all people had to go to Parishville for 
all kinds of mill work. The bridge at the Fort was gone and 
there was no way of crossing. There were people caught on 
each side by the flood who belonged on the other, and besides 
there was much trafficking between the two sides of the river. 
A means of transfer was needed and must be had. After 
much parleying it was decided that a float worked by a rope 
attached to either shore would be the cheapest and quickest 
mode of transfer to construct. To do this they had to first get 
a twine or string across the stream and the only way available 
to do this was to tie the string to a stone and throw the stone 
across the stream. Brawny and muscular as were the men of 
those days, there was only one out of many who tried it who 
could throw the stone with the string attached across the 
stream, and that was Edwin O. Phelps. The string once over 
they were soon able to stretch a rope across, and with this to 
hold to they were soon able to work a raft or float. 

Frankhn Kellogg was a blacksmith and opened a shop at 
the Fort in about 1839. He lived in the Wead house where 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. i8i 

the Fuller Hotel burned in 1900. At first I think he used 
the Humphrey shop. Later he built a large stone shop 
which stood close by and just west of the large stone 
residence built by him. 

Prospering at his trade, he and Caleb Wright, Jr., built a 
store at the north end of the main bridge on the location of 
Hugh Kennedy's old house where they did business 
for some years. Mr. Kellogg built a fine stone resi- 
dence on the south side some ten rods from the south 
end of the bridge in about 1854, where he resided till 
his death, March 17, 1877. He also built the present 
large and commodious store across the road from his late resi- 
dence in 1 871. The house and store passed into the 
hands of Calvin Miller, and the former, a fine residence built 
of sandstone, quarried near by, was burned down in 1896. 
Mr. Miller rebuilt of wood on the old site, and the property 
is now held by his son George. His son-in-law, A. E. Ober, 
conducts the old store. 

Soon after becoming owner of the property Mr. Miller 
tore down the old stone shop. 

Mr. Kellogg's son Harrison had conducted it since his 
father quit blacksmithing. On its destruction he bought a 
plat of ground across the road and built a large shop of wood 
which he operated till he went to Chazy. His younger 
brother, Franklin, also a blacksmith, bought the shop and 
has conducted the business very successfully to this time. 

In 1852 J. B. Weaver of Schuyler Falls, N. Y., built a 
starch factory just across the road from the gristmill. After- 
wards a stock company was formed which did business for 
quite a number of years. The buildings are now fast going 
into dissolution. 

In October, 1852, Francis Davis, father of Philo A. and 
the late Ftancis W., came to the Fort and with some difficulty 
secured the present gristmill site and power. In the following 
year, 1853, he built the first gristmill. The old woollen mill 
of Ezra Hyde, then operated by Samuel Crook as a wheel- 
wright shop, was turned half around and moved back from 
the river a little to make room for the gristmill. Thus the 
three mills stood in close proximity until the fire of February 
16, 1 87 1, when all were consumed. The gristmill was rebuilt 
that year by Francis Davis and the sawmill by Fred Hopkins. 



1 82 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Mr. Crook, this time rebuilt just across the river, which shop 
is now owned by Martin L. ChfFord and used in his butter 
tub business. 

Mr. Davis conducted the gristmill till his death a few 
years since, when it passed into the charge of his widow. 
The mill was sold not long since to Charles F. Ober. 

In about 1869 or 1870 George Wells built a shingle mill 
on the north bank of the river, which he conducted for some 
years, selling it to James Macomber, who later sold to Badger 
& Andrew, who in turn sold to Calvin Miller. It is now 
conducted by Mr. Miller's son-in-law, A. E. Ober. 

The men in business at the Fort in 1873, as I learn from 
an old directory, were as follows : 

Harrison F. Kellogg, blacksmith. Francis W. Davis, gristmill. 

Joseph ClifFord, carpenter. Franklin Kellogg, general merchant. 

S. W. and George C. Crook, wheel- Fred I. Hopkins, sawmill. 

Wrights. George Wells, shingle mill. 
David Post, cooper. 

The present men in business are as follows : 

A. E. Ober, general store. Charles F. Ober, gristmill. 

Franklin Kellogg, blacksmith. ClifFord & Son, lumber and tub shop. 

ClifFord & Son, grocery. A. E. Ober, shingle and lumber. 

J. B. Farrar, general store. Charles F. Ober, dentist. 

Joseph ClifFord, undertaker. Chambers & Elliott, butter factory. 

The First Methodist Episcopal Society of Hopkinton. 

This society was organized December 13, 1839, at the 
schoolhouse in Fort Jackson. A board of nine trustees was 
elected by a "plurality of voices " as follows: Josiah Smith, 
Martin Covey, Hiram B. Sheldon, Rufus Aldin, Philip 
Mosher, Albert Sheldon, Bradley Adams, John Durrell and 
Z. L. Ransom. Dr. Hough has the last two names John 
Daniels and John L. Ransom, which is an error. 

The first register of records was carried away by mistake 
and a new record book purchased in 1873. I am therefore, I 
regret to say, unable to give the names of the charter mem- 
bers. The society prospered so well that in 1844 it built the 
present stone church standing on the west side of the road at 
the top of the hill, some twenty rods north of the bridge cross- 
ing the river, a cut of which recently taken is given. The 
stone for it was taken from the quarry close by and largely cut 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 183 

by William E. Eastman, Linus Stevens and other members of 
the church. When cut, a bee was made and the stone drawn 
to the site of the church and the building erected. 

At first the society had only itinerant or circuit preachers. 
At times in its history It has been associated with the Brick 
Chapel and also with the Nicholvllle society in the employ- 
ment of a minister, and is now a part of the Nicholvllle 
charge. 

The pastors of this society, with year of engagement, have 
been as follows : 

William Tripp, 1843. S. F. Danforth, 1866. 

Josiah Arnold and L. L. Greene, 1868. 

Justin T. Alden, 1845. S. C. Goodale, 1871. 

Oran Lathrop and Charles E. Dorr, 1872. 

Royal Stratton, 1847. W. Riley Helms, 1873. 

A. F. Bigelow, 1848. Thomas W. Gregory, 1875. 

Proctor M. Crowley, 1849. S. Short, 1876. 

Joseph A. Livingston, 1850. H. O. Tilden, . 

James L. Humphrey, 1852. J. Fletcher Brown, 1877. 

Augustus E. Munson, 1853. D. T. Pierce, 1880. 

Ebenezer Pense, 1854. A. C. Danforth, 1881. 

W. D. Moore and M. D. Sill, 1884. 

C. E. Syms, 1855. S. J. Greenfield, 1885. 

C. M. Bowen, 1857. D. L. Phelps, 1887. 

Not given for 1858 and 1859. J- ^- Downer, 1889. 

Oscar Mott, i860. R. Sherman, 1890. 

David Ferguson, 186 1. H. Hesselgrave, 1893. 

Alonzo Wells, 1862. W. F. Tooke, 1897. 

A. L. Smith, 1864. C. H. Van Camp, 1902. 

The Freewill Baptist Church. 

Dr. Hough says this society was organized in 1844 by 
Elder John Sweat and Elder William Whitfield with sixteen 
members. Its own records state that several brothers and 
sisters met August 9, 1843, ^°^ ^^^ purpose of organizing a 
church society, and gives the following persons as charter mem- 
bers : viz., Reuben Wells, Lucinda Wells, Jared Luther and 
wife, A. Stoddard, Caroline Smith, Betsy Sweat, Thomas 
Sweat, John Sweat, Delia M. Sweat and Abigail Chaffee. 

This society, like all others bearing the prefix " Free- 
will," was formed partly, at least, as a protest against the 
doctrine of human slavery as a divine Institution or as a right 
supported or warranted by divine authority. It Is surprising 



184 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

and astounding that the meek followers of Jesus in any church 
society should be required or compelled to leave it on account 
of such barbarous teaching. Why there were not Freewill 
Presbyterian, Methodist, etc., societies formed I do not see, 
as there must have been men and women in all denominations 
who did not believe in slavery the same as there were in the 
Baptist Church. Whether the pastors in other churches were 
more discreet and let 'the subject alone, fearing trouble if they 
touched it, or whether the Baptist Church took it upon itself 
to defend slavery, I cannot say. It is certainly a little singular 
that the only protesting took place in the Baptist Church, and I 
regret that I cannot explain it. My grandfather, Jonah San- 
ford, was a Democrat till the Fremont campaign in 1856, and 
I am pained to admit believed, or thought he did, in human 
slavery as a right. His pastor, a Baptist minister at Parish- 
ville, did not so believe and kept giving the institution a side 
thrust every now and then. Emboldened by the approval of 
many members, he, on one occasion, took slavery as his text 
and attacked it, adroitly of course, yet his intent and purpose 
were plain to be seen. Mr. Sanford, who was a power in the 
society, had a front pew, and when the minister closed, arose 
in his place and lectured him smartly and soundly for bringing 
" politics " into the church. The minister undertook to reply, 
but the Judge, being resolute and strong, held the floor. 
Other members gathered about, some siding with the Judge 
and some with the pastor. The meeting broke up in more or 
less turmoil and without a benediction. I give this episode 
only to show the state of feeling from about 1830 to i860 on 
the slavery question, which seems only to have broken out in 
open revolt, for some unaccountable reason, in the Baptist 
Church. 

The Baptist Church of " Hopkinton and Nicholville," ot 
which this society at the Fort was an offshoot, was, as I am in- 
formed, strongly influenced if not controlled by Myron G. 
Peck. There was a great deal of feeling and some bitterness 
engendered in the church over the support given to the doc- 
trine of slavery, or rather to its refusal to take a decided stand 
against slavery, which lasted many years, and may still rankle 
in a few bosoms whose hearts now beat slowly and weakly. 
Unable to longer accept its teachings on this subject, quite a 




METHODIST CHURCH AT FORT JACKSON. 




FREEWILL BAPTIST CHURCH, FORT JACKSON. 
Schoolhouse in foreground. 




RESIDENCE OF FRANKLIN KELI.OGG. 




UNIVERSALISr CHURCH, FORT JACKSON. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 185 

respectable proportion of the congregation withdrew and formed 
a new society. 

The church building was erected in 1 847 at a cost of one 
thousand dollars, and was dedicated January 2, 1 848, the ser- 
mon being preached by Elder John W. Lewis. It stands 
some twenty rods northerly of the Methodist Church and just 
over the line in the town of Lawrence. In the picture of it 
which is given the tasty public school building will be seen in 
the foreground nestled under the edge of a beautiful grove. 
The only man now living who helped to cut the timber for and 
build this church is Harmon Austin, Esq., of Fort Jackson. 

The pastors, so far as shown by the records with the be- 
ginning of their pastorates, were as follows : 

John Sweat, 1844. L. D. Preston, 1880. 

Mark Atwood, 1862. John Cox, 1883. 

John Waldron, 1870. J. W. Hoyt, 1889. 

Richard Parke, 1872. Mark Atwood, June 10, 1892. 

Charles Hurlin, 1876. John Vance, March 12, 1893. 

.H. S. Ball, 1878. Daniel Land, 1897. 
E. M. Roel, 1 90 1. 

The church was without a pastor from 1894 to 1897 and 
from 1898 to 1 90 1. 

I am told that the Baptist people aided and assisted in 
the building of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1844 
and used it until they built their own. 

Mrs. Edwin O. Phelps of Fort Jackson is said to be 
the oldest living member of the Baptist Church. 

The Universaltst Church. 
The people of this faith began affihating together as early 
as August 6, 1896, which is the earliest date in their records. 
For some three years they held services occasionally in a hall, 
with a student from Canton University officiating. Daniel 
Wright was one of these and took an active part in the or- 
ganization of the society. A tasty church edifice of wood 
was erected in 1899 at a cost of about $2,200, a picture of 
which is given. It was built by Martin L. Clifford and 
stands a few rods westerly of the late Franklin Kellogg resi- 
dence and where tlje Wead house stood. The church was 
dedicated in December, 1899, and the members then admitted 
were as follows: Mr. and Mrs. Philo A. Davis, Mr. and 



1 86 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Mrs. Horace J. Converse, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Nye, John 
Leash, Shubael M. Davis, Mrs. Charles Fletcher, Mrs. Mar- 
tin L. Clifford, Mrs. Watson Clifford, Miss Pearl Hasel- 
ton, Miss N. Mason, Mr. and Mrs. Osborn Holmes, 
Mrs. J. B. Farrar, Mrs. R. H. Hastings and Mrs. Olive 
Miller Ober. The present trustees are, Philo A. Davis, 
president ; C. F. Ober, cleric ; Watson Clifford, treasurer ; C. 
H. Hodgkins, H. E. Downey, Horace J. Converse and 
J. B. Farrar. 

The first regular pastor was E. B. Saunders of Canton, 
who was with them till very recently. 

Postmasters with Date of Appointment. 

Franklin Kellogg, April 3, 1873; Calvin Miller, Novem- 
ber 6, 1885; A. E. Ober, August 1, 1889; Varick A. 
Cutler, April 13, 1894; Martin L. Clifford, March 16, 
1898. 

Physicians at the Fort. 

Dr. Dyrgert, first resident, 1 874-1 878; Dr. B. A. 

Meacham, 1887-1891; Dr. William Bigelow, short time, 
1895; Dr. E. B. Wells, still there located, 1901. 



CHAPTER XII. 

The Soldiers of Hopkinton in the Civil War. 

The following is a list of the men who went forth from 
the town from April, 1861, to April, 1865, under the im- 
mortal Lincoln to save the Union. I get the record from the 
bureau of military statistics at Albany. It was furnished at 
the close of the war by V. A. Chittenden, Esq., town clerk, 
under a statute so requiring. Whether it was made by him 
from recollection or a record kept, I cannot say. 

Explanation. 

The official record is first given. Any additional information as to the 
soldier's career since the war is preceded by the word •' Note." 

Austin, Oliver, born July 24, 1840. Single. Co. F, i6th Regiment, enlisted 
April 15, 1861, for two years, private. Died of disease at Alexandria, 
November 22, 1862, and buried there. 

Ames, George Benjamin, born December 3, 1845. Single. Co. F, 193d 
Regiment, enlisted February 13, 1865, for one year, private; bounty $zoo. 
Died of disease at Auburn, N. Y., May 26, 1865, and buried at same 
place. 

Bruce, Samuel G. Single. Co. F, i6th Regiment, enlisted April 15, 1861, 
for two years, private. Further information unknown. 

Note. — Was a blacksmith in Hopkinton after the war, removed to St. 
Regis Falls, N. Y., where he died a few years ago. 

Brown, Theodore. Married. Co. G, gzd Regiment, enHsted Novem- 
ber 15, 1 86 1, for three years, private. Discharged very soon after mus- 
tering on account of disability. 

Beardsley, Henry C. Co. A, lo6th Regiment, enlisted August 6, 1862. 

Besaw, Nelson. Single. Co. G, 92d Regiment, enlisted November 15, 
I 861, for three years, private ; bounty ^300. Reenlisted January 4, 1864, 
at Newbern, N. C. 

Note. — Returned to town, married and soon went west. 

Bemis, John M., born July 14, 1825. Married. Co. H, 7th Regiment, 
enlisted December 7, 1863, for three years, private; bounty J300. 
Wounded June 3, 1 864, at battle of Cold Harbor and discharged Septem- 
ber, 1865. 

Note. — Came back, lived in town several years, moved to Dickin- 
son where he died some fifteen years ago. 



1 88 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Blair, Lorenzo D., born July 2, 1844. Single. Co. E, 106th Regiment, 
enlisted August 11, 1862, for three years, private; bounty ^10. Died 
at North Mountain, Va., of disease June 26, 1863, and buried there. 

Bryant, Adolphus S., born December 18, 1831. Married. Co. L, Scott's 
900, enlisted August, 1862, for three years, private ; bounty §10. Died 
of disease at Washington, December 26, 1862, and buried there. 

Brown, Ira J., born March 15, 1844. Single. Co. I, 7th Heavy Artillery, 
enlisted December, 1863, for three years, private ; bounty $300. Taken 
prisoner June 16, 1864, confined in Andersonville Prison, and exchanged 
November 24, 1864. Did not return to his regiment, and discharged 
June, 1865. 

Note. — Has a family, and lives at Western, Minn. 

Brown, Eli W., born May 14, 1844. Single. Co. H, 7th Heavy 
Artillery, enlisted December, 1863, for three years, private; bounty 
J300. Taken prisoner June 16, 1864, taken to Andersonville, died July 
19, 1864, and buried there. 

Bartlett, Nathan W., born . Single. Co. F, 193d Regiment, en- 
listed February 28, 1865, for one year, private; bounty ;g200. Further 
information unknown. 

Note. — Health greatly impaired by exposure on way to seat of war. 
He studied law and practised at Parishville. Died and left a widow and 
two children, Willard W. and Katy V., who reside in Potsdam. 

Crawford, Hiram, born August 31, 1831. Married. Co. G, 92d Regi- 
ment, enlisted November, I 86 1, for three years, private. Discharged at 
expiration of term of service, November I I, 1864. 

Note. — Returned to town, married and lived there several years, when 
he went west, where he died about four years ago. 

Cain, John, born . Married. Co. G, 1 06th Regiment, enlisted August 

8, 1862, for three years, private ; bounty $10. Received a slight wound 
at the battle of Winchester, Va., and discharged June 22, 1865. 

Cutler, Calvin L., born May 14, 1828. Married. Co. F, 193d Regi- 
ment, enlisted February 17, 1865, for one year, private; bounty |1 200. 
Acted as commissary at Cumberland, Md. 

Note. — - Was a farmer, and died suddenly in the hayfield on the Rus- 
sell Witherell farm, about July, 1898. 

Cudworth, Otis I., born December 22, 1839. Married. Co. E, io6th 
Regiment, enlisted August 11, 1862, for three years, private; bounty 
gio. Taken prisoner at the battle of Monoca, Md., July 9, 1864, and 
confined in Dansville Prison. Died November 20, 1 864, and buried at 
the same place. 

CoNLiN, John C, born December 22, 1839. Married. Co. K, 60th Regi- 
ment, enlisted August, 1861, for three years, sergeant. Discharged De- 
cember, 1862, by reason of disability. 

Note. — Holds the Hazen farm on the Turnpike about four miles east ot 
Parishville. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 189 

Cady, Transit, born June 13, 1833. Single. Co. D, 921! Regiment, en- 
listed October 10, 1 861, for three years, private. Discharged May 7, 
1863, at Newbern, N. C, by reason of physical disability. 

Note. — Died in Parishville some years ago, leaving widow and two 
children. 
Cady, Oberto A., born August 31, 1835. Single. Co. B, 50th Regiment, 
enlisted August 12, 1861, for three years, corporal, and promoted to 
first sergeant. Discharged January I, 1866. 

Note. — Settled in Virginia and later moved to Washington, D. C. 

Cady, George S., born November 26, 1843. Single. Co. D, gzd Regi- 
ment, enlisted October 10, I 86 1, for three years, corporal ; bounty |i300. 
Promoted to first sergeant. Rcenlisted January, 1864, and promoted to 
first lieutenant, 96th Regiment, December 10, 1864. 

Cady, Myrtle. Single. Co. F, 193d Regiment, enlisted February, 1865, 
for one year, private ; bounty ;g200. Further information unknown. 

Cheney, Justice E., born May 11, 1839. Married. Co. — , 14th Regi- 
ment, enlisted December, 1863, for three years, private; bounty J300. 
Nothing has been heard from him since June 3, 1864; supposed to have 
been killed on battlefield. 

Cheney, Judson Z., born May 11, 1838. Married. Co. G, 98th Regi- 
ment, enUsted November, 1862, for three years, corporal. Reenlisted 
from New York City. Killed in battle June 3, 1864, and supposed to be 
buried on battlefield. 

Cheney, Jesse A., born May 7, 1849. Single. Co. D, 39th Regiment, 
enlisted September, 1864, for one year, private; bounty ;J200. Dis- 
charged May, 1865. 

Note. — Married and lived in town until about 1894, when he moved 
to Potsdam where he now resides. 

Cheney, Richard B., born September 9, 1845. Single. Co. A, 60th Regi- 
ment, enlisted August, 1861, for three years, private. Discharged Novem- 
ber 18, 1864. 

Cheney, James B., born August 25, 1846. Co. G, 14th Regiment, for three 
years, private. Discharged October 29, 1864. 

Desmond, Edmond W., born January 28, 1840. Single. Co. B, l6th Regi- 
ment, enlisted April 15, 1861, for two years, private. Served two years 
and was discharged with regiment. Reenlisted Co. M, 6th Regiment, 
December, 1863, for three years, private ; bounty $300. Taken prisoner 
May 19, 1864, in the Wilderness campaign and confined in Andersonville 
Prison. Exchanged September I I, 1864, and returned to his regiment, and 
discharged September 23, 1865. 

Note. — Went to Texas, where he died some years ago. At the time 
he enlisted he was working on the farm of Jonah Sanford, Jr., who released 
him. 

Drake, Eugene S. Single. Enlisted November 24, 1861, for three years, 
private. Died of disease. Further particulars unknown. 
Note. — He had no family and was buried at Hopkinton. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 190 

DucATT, Joseph. Married. Co. G, 9 2d Regiment, enlisted November 25, 
1 86 1, for three years, private. 

Note. — Was a farmer in the south part of town, but now lives in 
Parishville. 

Delameter, Charles, born October 24, 1845. Single. Co. G, 13th Regi- 
ment, enlisted June 30, 1863, for three years, private. Killed in riot at 
New York City, July, 1863, and buried there. 

Daniels, Alphonso, born November 25, 1839. Single. Co. K, 60th Regi- 
ment, enlisted September 26, 1 861, for three years, private. Wounded 
at the battle of Gettysburg ; died from effects of the wound, February z6, 
1864, and buried at Stephenson, Ala. 

Daniels, Allen O., born April 25, 1849. Single. Co. B, 8th Regiment, 
enlisted September 3, 1864, for one year, private ; bounty gzoo. Died or 
disease December 17, 1864. 

Daniels, Benjamin, born June 22, 1835. Married. Co. K, 60th Regiment, 
enlisted September 26, 1861, for three years, private. Served about one 
and a half years and discharged at Harper's Ferry for disability. 
Note. — Lives in , Minn. 

Drake, Hosea P., born May 19, 1845. Single. Co. D, 92d Regiment, en- 
listed November 18, 1861, for three years, private. Served two years in 
92d Regiment. Reenlisted January 18, 1864, Co. D, 92d Regiment, 
for three years, private ; bounty ;<i300. 

Note. — Settled in town, married, went to Potsdam, where he died a 
few years ago, leaving a large family. 

Drake, Henry, born April 12, 1844. Single. Co. D, 92d Regiment, en- 
listed August, 1862, for three years, private. Taken prisoner at battle of 
Fair Oaks, and not heard of since. 

Drake, Hiram, born January 4, 1842. Single. Co. D, 92d Regiment, en- 
listed August, 1862, for three years, private; bounty J 10. Wounded at 
battle before Petersburg, July, 1864 ; taken to Philadelphia, where he died 
July 10, 1864, from wound and was buried there. 

Drake, Alson D., born June 23, 1844. Single. Co. D, 92d Regiment, 
enlisted January 6, 1862, for three years, private. Wounded at battle of 
Fair Oaks, May, 1862, and came home on furlough. 

Note. — Returned to town, married, and moved to Potsdam a few years 
since, where he died. 

Drake, Frederick C, born February 7, 1846. Single. Scott's 900, en- 
listed February 17, 1865, for one year, private; bounty J200. Dis- 
charged June 30, 1865. 

Davis, Gibson, born June 16, 1843. Single. Co. F, 193d Regiment, en- 
listed March, 1865, for one year, private ; bounty ^200. 
Note. — Went west, where he died, leaving a family. 

Davis, William T., born November 30, 1844. Single. Co. A, 164th 
Regiment, enlisted August, 1862, for three years, private; bounty $10. 
Died of disease, December 16, 1863, at Suffolk, Va., and buried there. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 



191 



Dove, Edwin A., born April i;, 1840. Married. Co. H, 13th Regiment, 
enlisted September I, 1864, for one year; bounty ^200. Discharged. 

Note. — Returned, and lived in town many years. He now resides at 
Richland Centre, Wis. 

Eastman, George L., born August 17, 1836. Co. B, i6th Regiment, enlisted 
April 25, 1861, for two years. He resigned in the fall of 1862 ; served 
as quartermaster in the winter of 1863. 

Note. — He was in the hardware business at Potsdam for some years, and 
then went to sheep raising in Kansas. He returned to Potsdam and was 
postmaster at the time of his death. (See Lee Eastman record.) 

Fuller, Dustin. Single. Co. G, 92d Regiment, enlisted October 10, 186 1, 
for three years, private. Reenlisted January 4, 1864, at Newbern, N. C, 
for three years. Came home on flirlough and did not return. 
Note. — Settled in Vermont. 

Fuller, Major. Single. Co. G, 92d Regiment, enlisted October 10, 1861, 
for three years, private. Reenlisted January 4, 1864, at Newbern, N. C, 
for three years. Came home on furlough and did not return. 
Note. — Settled in Vermont. 

Foster, Charles B., born September 6, 1835. Single. Co. F, 16th Regi- 
ment, enlisted June 24, 186 1, for two years, private. 

Note. — Became a noted business man in the west and now resides at 
Winchester, Va. 

Farwell, Doras. Single. Co. F, 193d Regiment, enlisted February 20, 
1865, for one year, private ; bounty g2oo. Further particulars unknown. 
Note. — Died in Stockholm soon after the war. 

Fuller, Ezra, born . Married. Co. G, io6th Regiment, enlisted 

August 7, 1862, private ; bounty gio. Killed in battle. 

Graves, Peter. Married. Co. G, 92d Regiment, enlisted October 10, 
1 86 1, for three years, private. Killed in battle. Further particulars un- 
known. 

Goulding, Orley L, born August 26, 1842. Single. Co. G, gzd Regi- 
ment, enlisted October 16, 1 86 1, for three years, private. Served in the 
92d Regiment until the May following, and was then taken prisoner at the 
battle of Fair Oaks, Va. Did not return to the regiment, but enlisted into 
the Iowa cavalry. 

Note. — Settled in the west, where he died. 

GooDNOw, Henry, born May 3, 1842. Single. Co. G, 92d Regiment, 
enlisted November 15, 186 1, for three years, private. Died of disease in 
New York City and was buried at David's Island. 

Geddis, George, born September 10, 1832. Married. Co. G, io6th Regi- 
ment, enlisted August 8, 1862, for three years, private; bounty ^10. 
Discharged at expiration of term of service, June 2z, 1865. Served as 
teamster two years. 

Note. — Went to , Wis., soon after the war. 

Goodnow, Harvey, born April 11, 1841. Single. Co. G, 98th Regiment, 
enlisted January 15, 1862, for three years, private. Died September, 
1 864, at the Baltimore Hospital, and buried in Baltimore. 



192 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

GooDNOW, Hiram, born August z, 1844. Single. Co. G, 98th Regiment, 
enlisted January 15, 1862, for three years, private. Served two years and 
reenlisted January I, 1863, for three years, corporal; bounty J300. 
Wounded June 2, 1864, in the left hand at Cold Harbor, and discharged 
May I, 1865, for disability. 

GouLDiNG, Henry C, born June 15, 1847. Single. Co. E, Scott's 900, 
enlisted September 5, 1864, for one year, private ; bounty ^zoo. Died 
of disease October 27, 1864, at Baton Rouge, and buried in the Soldiers' 
Home Cemetery. 

GiLLEN, James, born September 8, 1845. Single. Enlisted September 3, 
1864, for one year, private; substitute. Died of disease at Petersburg, 
Va., and buried in same place. 

GiLLEN, John, born September 8, 1845. Single. Co. E, Scott's 900, en- 
listed October 13, 1863, for three years, private ; bounty $300. 
Note. — Lives in Lawrence, N. Y. 

Griffin, Martin. Co. — , 98th Regimemt. Further information unknown. 
Note. — Died at St. Regis Falls, N. Y., about 1898. 

GooDELL, Spencer, born . Single. Co. F, 193d Regiment, enlisted 

February, 1865, for one year, private ; bounty ^200. Further informa- 
tion unknown. 

Note. — Now resides at Parishville, N. Y. 

HoDGKiNs, Charles H., born October 10, 1844. Single. Co. F, i6th 
Regiment, enlisted April 15, 1861, for two years, private. Lost his 
middle finger on left hand at the battle of Gains Mills, Va. Received sec- 
ond wound at Fredericksburg, Va. Discharged at expiration of service. 

Note. — Resides at Fort Jackson, and was justice of the peace for sev- 
eral years. 

Hodges, Nathan S., born June 11, 1820. Married. Co. F, 1 6th Regiment, 
enlisted April Z4, 1861, for two years, private. Discharged by reason ot 
disability June 13, I 861. Reenlisted from the town of Burke in 1864. 
Note. — Settled in Hopkinton, where he died about five years ago. 

Hodges, Zimraia, born February Z7, 1844. Single. Co. F, 16th Regi- 
ment, enlisted April 15, 1 861, for two years, private. Wounded in the 
right arm, and discharged at expiration of term of service. Reenlisted from 
the town of Moriah. 

Hurlbert, Darwin E., born February 7, 1843. Single. Co. H, l6th 
Regiment, enlisted April 15, 1861, for two years, private. Received a 
severe wound at the battle of Gains Mills, June 27, I 862, and discharged 
by reason of the wound February 7, 1863. Reenlisted December 29, 
1863, for three years, private ; bounty ;^300. Wounded at battle of Cold 
Harbor and discharged July, 1865, at the close of the war. 

Note. — Went to , Wis., where he married and is a farmer. 

Haines, Henry, born September 29, 1824. Married. Co. G, gzd Regi- 
ment, enlisted October z8, 1 861, for three years, private. Wounded at 

battle of Fort Harrison, , 1864, and discharged at expiration of service 

in 1864. 

Note. — Resides at St. Regis Falls, N. Y. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 193 

HoDGKiNS, Phineas, born October 8, 1847. Single. Co. F, 193d Regiment, 
enlisted February 27, 1865, private; bounty ^200. 

Note. — Went to Flushing, Mich., soon after the war, married and is a 
farmer. 
Heath, Martin V., born February 21, 1836. Married. Co. G, io6th 
Regiment, enUsted August 8, 1862, for three years, private; bounty gio. 
Discharged June 22, 1865. 

Note. — Went to , Wis. 

Hammond, Henry D., born November 17, 1845. Single. Co. E, 59th 

Regiment, enlisted November, i 863, for three years, private ; bounty ;?300. 

Note. — Did not return to town. 

Haines, Adam L., born December 25, 1830. Married. Company M, 

Scott's 900, enlisted August 30, 1862, for three years, private; bounty 

gio. Discharged at expiration of term of service June 10, 1865. 

Hubbard, Francis, born April zi, 1840. Married. Co. C, 83d Regiment, 
enhsted July 13, 1863, for three years, private. Drafted July 13, 1863. 
The only man that went from town on draft. Wounded June 21, 1864, 
transferred to Co. C, 97th Regiment, and discharged April 17, 1865, by 
reason of wound. 

Note. — Died very soon after his return to town. 

Harmon, Henry Charles, born September 30, 1846. Single. Died of 
disease March 20, I 862, and burial at Nicholville. 

Harmon, H. M., born April 27, 1824. Married. Co. E, 98th Regiment, 
enhsted January, 1862, for three years, private. Discharged by reason of 
disability soon after enlistment. 

Hammond, James H., born August 18, 1844. Co. A, 6th Regiment, en- 
hsted October 9, 1863, for three years. Discharged August 26, 1865. 

Ives, Warren J., born February 22, 1838. Married. Co. G, io6th Regi- 
ment, enlisted August 7, l86z, for three years, first sergeant ; bounty $10. 
Wounded in the summer of 1864, and discharged in the winter of 1865. 

Note. — Settled at Hutchinson, Minn., reared a family of six children 
and died March 2, 1899. {See Asahel Kent's family.) 

Jordan, John. Single. Co. G, 92d Regiment, enlisted December 29, 1861, 
for three years, private. 

Kendrick, Alford C, born April 23, 1842. Single. Scott's 900, enlisted 
August 18, 1862, for three years, private ; bounty $10. Died of disease 
at Memphis, Tenn., and was buried there. 

Kendrick, Plummer M., born April 3, 1845. Single. Scott's 900, enlisted 
August 15, 1863, for three years, private ; bounty ^300. Discharged by 
reason of disability December 29, 1864. 
Note. — Resides at Fort Jackson, N. Y. 

KiMPTON, William N., born December 5, 1837. Single. Co. G, 92d 
Regiment, enlisted October lo, 1861, for three years, private. Died 
of disease at Baltimore, Md., May 28, 1862, and buried there. 

Kent, Edgar, born . Single. Co. — , 60th Regiment, enlisted 

August, 1 86 1, for three years, private. 



194 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 



Landon, Daniel B., born March 20, 1832. Married. Co. G, lo6th Regi- 
ment, enlisted August 6, 1862, for three years, corporal; he was pro- 
moted to sergeant ; bounty J 10. 

Note. — Married Carolina M. Phelps, and had six children. He was 
wounded at the battle of Monocacy, Md., July 9, 1864. He died 
April 23, 1879, and his widow resides in Hartford, Conn. 

LivERMORE, Henry W., born May 24, 1837. Single. Co. G, io6th Regi- 
ment, enlisted August, 1862, for three years, private; bounty §10. 
Wounded at the battle of Monocacy, Md., July 9, 1864, and died from 
effects of his wound the last of July. He was buried at Frederick, Md. 

Minor, Peter. Married. Co. G, 9 2d Regiment, enlisted October 10, i86i, 
for three years, private. Discharged June 10, 1863, by reason of consoli- 
dation of regiment. Further information unknown. 
Note. — Settled in Vermont, where he died. 

Minor, Joseph. Married. Co. G, 92d Regiment, enlisted October 10, 1861, 
for three years, private. Killed in battle September 30, 1864, at James 
River and was buried. 

McCloud, Nelson W., born May 6, 1848. Single. Co. F, 193d Regi- 
ment, enlisted February 18, 1865, for one year, private ; bounty ;g200. 

Merritt, Isaac H., born July 26, 1842. Single. Co. D, 92d Regiment, en- 
listed December, 186 1, for three years, private. Died at hospital, BiiUo- 
mas Bridge, Va., June 8, 1862, of disease. His place of burial is un- 
known. 

Merritt, Horace, born August 8, 1846. Single. Co. G, 92d Regiment, 
enlisted December, I 86 1, for three years, private. Died of disease before 
leaving state and buried at Hopkinton. 

McArthur, Osni, born May 4, 1827. Married. Co. E, io6th Regiment, 
enlisted August l i, 1862, for three years, private ; bounty $10. Killed at 
battle of Cold Harbor, June, 1864, and buried at White House Landing. 

McArthur, Amos, born May 30, 1829. Single. Co. E, !o6th Regiment, 
enlisted August I l, 1862, for three years, private ; bounty ^10. Died ot 
disease at Rowlsburgh, May 5, 1863, and buried there. 

Merritt, Chauncey, born September 12, 1842. Single. Co. D, 9 2d Regi- 
ment, enlisted November 30, 1861, for three years, private. Reenlisted 
January 4, 1864, Co. D, 92d Regiment, for three years; bounty ^300. 
Wounded at battle of Cold Harbor ; taken to Washington and died from ef- 
fects of his wound, July 2, 1864. He was buried at Alexandria, Va. 

Merritt, William, born March 13, 1830. Single. Co. D, 92d Regiment, 
enlisted September 21, 1862, for three years, private; bounty gioo. 
Killed at battle of Cold Harbor, June i, 1864, and buried on battlefield. 

Merritt, Holland, born August 5, 1840. Single. Co. D, 92d Regiment, 
enlisted January 14, 1861, for three years, private. Discharged in April, 
1862, by reason of disability. 

Note. — Settled in Potsdam, where he died. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 195 

Meekham, Jeremiah S., born October 13, 1830. Married. Co. D, 9 2d Regi- 
ment, enlisted August 25, 1862, for three years, private; bounty $10. 
Discharged March 4, 1863, for physical disability. 
Note. — Resided in Parishville, where he died. 

Meacham, Sylvester, born June 5, 1844. Co. H, 26th Regiment, enlisted 
February, 1865, for one year, private; bounty ^200. Discharged July 5, 
1865, at the close of the war. 

Note. — Settled at St. Regis Falls. 

McCuen, Daniel O., born August I, 1841. Co. A, 60th Regiment. Dis- 
charged July 19, 1865. 

McCuen, Lewis, born September 29, 1839. Co. A, 60th Regiment, private. 
Discharged November 23, 1863. 

Meacham, Hally E., born June 5, 1842. Single. Co. K, 60th Regiment, 
enlisted October 8, 1 86 1, for three years, private. Died of disease Decem- 
ber 31, 1861, at Baltimore, Md., and buried at London Park Cemetery, 
Baltimore. 

McCan, E. M. 

Note. — Name not in records. Paid town bounty February 20, 1865, 
of ;g200. 

Newton, Oliver. 

Note. — Name not in records, but paid a bounty of J300, December 29, 
1863. 

Nobles, Thomas, born April 27, 1808. Married. Co. G, 92d Regiment, 
enlisted October 10, 1861, for three years, corpora], then sergeant. Served 
twenty months and discharged by reason of consolidation of regiment, June 
10, 1863. Reenlisted November 12, 1863, Co. I, 92d Regiment, for 
three years ; bounty ^300. ' 

Note. — Died in Hopkinton some years since. 

Newton, Hiram. Married. Co. — , 50th Regiment, enlisted September 7, 
1864, for one year, private ; bounty ^200. Transferred to the 15th En- 
gineer Corps. Discharged June, 1865, at the close of the war. 
Note. — Settled in Hopkinton, where he died some years ago. 

Newton, Warner. Co. G, 106th Regiment, enlisted August 14, 1862. 

Note. — His name is not in the official report. I find it in the history 
of St. Lawrence County, published in 1878. 

NoRRis, Joseph B., born March 7, I 822. Married. Co. F, l6th Regiment, 
enlisted August 30, 1862, for three years ; bounty gio. Transferred in 
1863 to Co. A, i2ist Regiment, and wounded at Cedar Creek in left leg 
and back. Discharged June 12, 1865. 
Note. — Went west. 

Nash, George W., born January 18, 1832. Married. Co. G, io6th Regi- 
ment, enlisted August 6, 1862, for three years, private ; bounty ^10. 
Promoted to sergeant January i, 1865, and discharged June 22, 1865. 
Note. — Resides at Brasher Falls, N. Y. 



196 EARLY HISTORY OF. HOPKINTON. 

Newton, Francis Oliver, born September 29, 1837. Married. Co. H, 
1 06th Regiment, enlisted September, 1863, for three years, private ; bounty 
^300. Killed at battle of Cold Harbor, Va., June I, 1864, and buried 
at Cold Harbor. 

Parker, John F., born July 24, 1840. Single. Co. B, i6th Regiment, en- 
listed April 25, 1 861, for two years, private. Received severe wound at 
battle of Gains Mills, June 27, 1862. Remained a prisoner on battlefield 
thirty days, then paroled. Discharged April 4, 1863. 
Note. — Settled in Depere, Wis. 

Paxton, Berry. Co. G, lo6th Regiment, enlisted August 7, 1862. 

Note. — This name is not in the report filed in Albany. I get it from 

the history of St. Lawrence County. 
Ploff, Peter G. Single. l6th Regiment, enlisted April 15, 1861, for two 

years, private. Killed in battle of West Point and buried on battlefield. 

Pierce, George K., born July 20, 1834. Married. Co. F, 193d Regiment, 
enlisted March 7, 1865, for one year, private ; bounty g2 00. Promoted 
to corporal. 

PiNNEY, Eber W., born March 8, 1825. Married. Co. G, 15th Regiment, 
enlisted September 5, 1864, for one year, private; bounty ^zoo. Dis- 
charged June 3, 1865. 
Note. — Went west. 

Palmer, Norman C, born March 27, 1837. Married. Co. E, ;oth Regi- 
ment, enlisted September 6, 1864, for one year, private; bounty ^200. 
Transferred to Co. G, 15th Engineer Corps. Discharged June 13, 1865. 
Note. — Died in Stockholm, N. Y. 

Pierce, William H., born October 4, 1845. Single. Co. G, io6th Regi- 
ment, enlisted November, 1863, for three years, private; bounty $300. 
Wounded at Fisher's Hill and at Cedar Creek. Discharged June, 1865. 
Note. -^i Bied-Hy gaggggm Farmer, I'ort Jackson, N.Y. 

Perry, Eli, born September 29, 1837. Married. Co. G, 1 06th Regiment, 
enlisted August 6, i86z, for three years, private ; bounty $10. Wounded 
April 7, 1862, in the arm, and did not return to his regiment. Discharged 
June 14, 1865. 

Note. — Went west. 

Perry, Charles, born October 8, 1846. Single. Co. G, io6th Regiment, 
enlisted December l, 1863, for three years, private ; bounty ^300. Dis- 
charged June, 1865. 

Pulsifer, Henry Albert, born January 14, 1842. Single. Co. E, io6th 
Regiment, enlisted August l 1, 1864, for three years, private ; bounty $10. 
Died of disease at North Mountain, Va., where he was buried. 

Pulsifer, Marshall Prentis, born April 15, 1844. Single. Scott's 900, 
enlisted December I, 1863, for three years, private ; bounty ^300. 

Perry Alexander, Jr., born January 7, 1834. Married. Co. G, 106th 
Regiment, enlisted August 7, 1862, for three years, private ; bounty ^200. 
Discharged at close of the war. 

Note. — Died in Hopkinton in 1902, leaving large family. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. ly; 

Ploff, Henry. Married. Co. G, i 5th Regiment, enlisted September, 1 864, 
for one year, private ; bounty J 200. Discharged at close of the war. 
Note. — Died in Hopkinton. 

Phelps, Jesse. Married. Co. — -, Regiment, private ; bounty ^200. 

Further information unknown. 

Note. — Died at St. Regis Falls, N. Y., about 1897. 

Rockwell, Chester S., born November 28, 1835. Married. Co. G, 92d 
Regiment, enlisted October 10, I 86 1, for three years, private. Promoted 
to sergeant-major and discharged June 10, 1863, on account of consolida- 
tion of regiment. 

Note. — Farmer and speculator, and lives at Parishville, N. Y. 

Rockwell, Mild, born July 24, 1837. Married. Co. G, 92d Regiment, 
enlisted October 25, 1 86 1, for three years, private. Died of disease about 
one year after entering service and buried at Washington, D. C. 
Note. — Went with sick and wounded to Washington as nurse. 

Rockwell, Myron S., born July 24, 1837. Single. Co. G, 92d Regi- 
ment, enlisted November 4, 1861, for three years, private. Promoted to 
corporal, served nearly three years, and received a mortal wound at Cold 
Harbor. Supposed to be buried on battlefield. 

Ross, Ira, born October 27, 1837. Married. Co. G, 13th Regiment, en- 
listed June 20, 1863, for three years, private. Lost four fingers on right 
hand at a riot in New York City. Served about two years and discharged 
about September, 1865. 

RocKwooD, Heman S., born November 2, 1844. Single. Co. E, lo6th 
Regiment, enlisted August I I, 1862, for three years, private ; bounty J 10. 
Wounded March 6, 1864, at battle of Wilderness in right shoulder, and 
at battle of Winchester lost his right arm. Discharged February, 1865. 
Note. — Is a physician and lives at Bombay, N. Y. 

RocKwooD, Harvey A., born October 18, 1847. Single. Co. F, 193d 
Regiment, enlisted February, 1865, for one year, private ; bounty ^200. 
Note. — Lives at La Fayette, Ind. 

Rosenbarker, Hiram, born February 14, 1831. Married. Co. B, 193d 
Regiment, enlisted February 19, 1865, for three years, private; bounty 
$200. 

Note. — .-Is a farmer in Hopkinton. 

Roberts, Ashford N., born December 10, 1837. Married. Co. H, 7th 
Regiment, enUsted December 16, 1863, for three years, private; bounty 
;g300. Wounded at the battle of Cold Harbor, June 3, 1864, very badly 
in the left arm. Sent to hospital in Washington and did not return to his 
regiment. Discharged November 19, 1864. 

Note. — Farmer and lives in Hopkinton. (See Eli Roberts's record.) 

Sanford, Jonah, born December 31, 1790, in Cornwall, Vt. In the fall of 
1861 and early winter of 1 861—62 he organized the 9 2d Regiment of 
Volunteers, became its colonel and went with the men to James River in 
Virginia, where sickness compelled him to resign. It was a remarkable feat 
considering his age, which was over seventy years. (For fiarther particulars 
see story of his life.) 



198 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Sanford, Henry B., born July 22, 1816, in Hopkinton. Married. Co. F, 
92d Regiment, for three years as second lieutenant. He died on the Hop- 
iiinton side of the river at Nicholville, March 27, 1879, ^^^ ^^^ ^ ^o" °f 
Jonah Sanford. 

Sanford, Henry T., born April 13, 1840. Single. Co. F, 16th Regiment, 
enlisted April, 1861, for two years as first sergeant. He was promoted to 
second lieutenant, first lieutenant and captain. Discharged at end of enlist- 
ment. 

Note. — After the war studied law, settled in Albany, N. Y., and prac- 
tised until his death, July 16, 1897. 

Sanford, Erasmus Jonah, born May 13, 1842. Single. Co. F, i6th Regi- 
ment, private. Wounded June 27, 1862, at Gains Mills, losing the third 
and fourth fingers of the left hand. Honorably discharged May 22, 1863. 
Note. — Since the war has lived at Nicholville where he has been quite 
successful. 

Sanford, Edwin D., born January 24, 1845. Single. Co. E, 6ist Regi- 
ment, enlisted August 8, 1864, private. Discharged July 14, 1865. 
Note. — Since the war has been a blacksmith at Nicholville. 

Sanford, Darwin E., born November 17, 1847. Single. Co. F, 193d 
Regiment, enlisted in 1864 as first sergeant, and discharged 1865. 

Note. — Resided in Lawrence since the war. He is a farmer and pro- 
prietor of Eagle Creamery at Nicholville. 

The preceding five men, father and four sons, except Darwin E., enlisted 
from the town of Lawrence, but as they were natives of Hopkinton, and as 
they present such a glorious record, I take the liberty to put them in here. 

Sanford, Rollin O., born November 29, 1837. Married. Co. L, 7th 
Heavy Artillery, enlisted December, 1863, for three years, corporal ; bounty 
J300. Went through Wilderness campaign and was taken prisoner before 
Petersburg, June, 1864. Confined in Andersonville Prison, where he 
died July 29, 1864, and is buried. 

Note. — His widow and two children survive. He was a son of 
Jonah Sanford. (See his family record.) 

Smith, Silas A. Single. Co. G, 92d Regiment, enlisted October 30, 1861, 
for three years, first lieutenant. Further information unknown. 

Sheldon, Harmon. Single. Co. K, 60th Regiment, enlisted September, I 861, 
for three years, private. Died of disease, August 22, 1863, at Hopkinton. 

Stone, Robert, born November 2;, 1833. Single. Co. G, Scott's 900, 
enlisted August 11, 1862, for three years, private; bounty gio. Died of 
disease in New York City, October 6, 1864, and buried in Parishville. 

Smith, Wilbur, born May 22, 1844. Single. Co. E, io6th Regiment, en- 
listed August I 1, 1862, for three years, private ; bounty, ^10. Discharged 
at expiration of term of service, July 3, 1865. 
Note. — Resides in Hopkinton. 

Staples, Isaac, born May 29, 1821. Married. Co. A, 92d Regiment, en- 
listed December, 1863, for three years, private; bounty J300. Discharged 
May 18, 1865, at close of the war. 

Note. — Died in Hopkinton about 1890. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 



99 



Shales, George, born December iz, 1830. Married. Co. G, io6th Regi- 
ment, enlisted August 7, 1862, for three years, private; bounty jSio. 
Discharged June 22, 1865. 
Note. — Resides in Lawrence. 

Smith, Samuel, born October 5, i8z6. Married. Co. I, 146th Refjimem, 
enlisted September i, 1864, for one year, private. Substitute. Dis- 
charged, war over. 

Note. — Died in Hopkinton. 

Sullivan, Mike, enlisted December, 1863, for three years, private ; bouncy 
§300. Further information unknown. 

Simpson, Samuel. Co. — , Regiment, private ; bounty $zoo. Further 

information uknown. 

Stearns, Henry W. Single. Co. F, 193d Regiment, enlisted February, 1865, 
for one year, private ; bounty ^200. Further information unknown. 

Snell, Hiram, born November 14, 1844. Single. Co. B, 8th New York 
Cavalry, enlisted September, 1864. Discharged July I, 1865. 

Note. — Not in foregoing record. He was paid bounty in 1 864 of gzoo. 
Resides at Madison, Ohio. 
Taylor, Aaron, born June, 1830. Married. Co. G, 98th Regiment, en- 
listed June 1, 1864, for three years, private; bounty ^300. Wounded in 
the head at battle of Cold Harbor, June 20, 1864, and discharged August 
31, 1865. 

Note. — Died at Stark, N. Y., in February, 190Z. 

Tamblin, Eli, born April 17, 1834. Married. Co. E, io6th Regiment, 
enlisted August 6, 1862, for three years, private ; bounty $\o. Wounded 
at the battle of Monocacy, Md., July 9, 1864. Transferred to the 1 6th 
Infantry Corps, and discharged July 6, 1865. 
Note. — Died at Nicholville. 

Vanhorman, Isaac, born 1843. Married. Co. B, 59th Regiment, en- 
listed August, i86z, for three years, private ; bounty ^10. Discharged 
February, 1864, on account of disability. 

Vaughn, George. Co. — , i4zd Regiment, enlisted August i, i86z, for 
three years, private ; bounty ^10. Discharged June, 1865. P. O. 
Defiance, O. 

WiTHERELL, George, born May 4, 184Z. Single. Co. — , 1 6th Regiment, 
enlisted October z8, 1 861, for two years, private. Discharged May, 
1863, with regiment. Reenlisted from Vermont state in 1863. 
Note. — Lives at Bainerd, Minn. 

Walcutt, Elisha. Married. Co. G, 92d Regiment, enlisted October 10, 
I 86 1, for three years, sergeant. Further information unknown. 

Willey, Hiram H. Married. Co. G, 92d Regiment, enlisted November, 
1861, for three years, private. Reenlisted January 4, 1864, in 92d Regi- 
ment at Newbern, N. C; bounty J300. 

White, Orin, born January 2, 1839. Married. Co. K,6oth Regiment, en- 
listed October, 1861, for three years, private. Served about eight months. 
Note. — Died in Hopkinton. 



200 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

WiNNE, John C, born September 14, 1829. Single. Co. G, io6th Regi- 
ment, enlisted August 6, 1862, for three years, private ; bounty po. Re- 

r ceived a wound in the hand and discharged at expiration of term of service, 
June 30, 1865. 

Wilson, Charles. Single. Co. E, jgth Regiment, enlisted December 27, 
1863, for three years, private ; bounty J300. 

Wilcox, Ithiel, born October 16, 1844. Single. Co. C, 50th Regiment, 
enlisted August, 1864, for one year, private; bounty JS200. Discharged 
at Washington, June, 1865. 

Note. — Died at Parishville in fall of 1 901. 

Welsh, Milton A., born October 29, 1842. Single. Co. G, 15th Regi- 
ment, enlisted September, 1864, for one year, private; bounty J200. 
Discharged at Washington, June, I 865. 
Note. — Resides in Hopkinton. 

White, L. R., born August 10, 1839. Single. Co. A, Scott's 900, en- 
listed August II, 1862, for three years, private; bounty J 10. Died of 
disease at Camp Relief, Va., January 6, 1863, and buried there. 

Wakefield, William B., born September 5, 1844. Single. Co. K, 16th 
Regiment, enlisted September 13, 1 861, for three years, private ; bounty 
;?300. Discharged February 13, 1863, by reason of disability. 

White, Julius, born October 3, 1840. Married. Co. G, loth Regiment, 
enlisted August, 1862, for three years, private; bounty Jio. Taken 
prisoner in June, I 863, and was in Libby Prison one hundred and six days. 
Exchanged and returned to his regiment. Wounded June 13, 1864, and 
discharged June 22, 1865, at close of the war. 
Note. — Resides in Hopkinton, family. 

White, Adney P. Co. G, io6th Regiment, enlisted August 12, 1862. 

Note. — I get this name from the St. Lawrence County history of 1878. 

Wheeler, Lewis, born November 11, 1836. Married. Co. G, io6th Regi- 
ment, enlisted August 7, 1862, for three years, private; bounty $10. 
Wounded July 9, 1864, before Petersburg, in the hip, and discharged 
July I, 1865, at the close of the war. 

Note. — Resides in Hopkinton and has a family. 

Wood, William W., born June 2, 1826. Married. Co. G, g2d Regiment, 
enlisted November, 1864, for three years, private. Discharged April 23, 
1862, by reason of disability. 

White, William, born September 27, 1832. Married. Co. G, 98th Regi- 
ment, enlisted January, i 862, for three years, private. Received four wounds 
at the battle of Fair Oaks, and was discharged in July, 1863. Reenlisted 
from the town of Bombay. 

Woodruff, Ealen A. Married. Co. G, i6th Regiment, enlisted April 15, 
1 861, for two years, private. Wounded in the seven days' battle before 
Richmond and died from effects of his wounds. 

SUBSTITUTES. 
Under the call of July, 1864, for 500,000 soldiers, the following men ftir- 
nished substitutes : George S. Wright, Samuel Smith, substitute ; Truman E. 
Post, a Mr. Peck, substitute ; George S. Wells, name of substitute not given ; 
Royal Squire, name of substitute not given. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

History of the South Part of the Town of Lawrence — The Early 
Settlement of Chesterfield — Its First Pioneers with a Sketch of 
Some of Them — The History of East Villa8:e or Nicholville, 
and of its Mills, Shops, Stores, Churches, Hotels, etc, with 
Illustrations. 

Since the southerly part of the township of Chesterfield 
was actually a part of the town of Hopkinton from 1805, 
when that town was incorporated, till 1828, when the town of 
Lawrence was organized, and since the settlers of the two 
localities bore such intimate relations to each other, I find it 
not only necessary but agreeable to devote considerable space 
to the settlement and history of that part of Chesterfield which 
was formerly Hopkinton. The early history of Hopkinton 
would certainly be incomplete did I not give it. 

The Early Settlement of Chesterfield. 

The township of Islington, In which was the large tract 
purchased by Mr. Hopkins, was actually settled, as already 
shown, in March, 1803. In the four or five succeeding years 
some forty men, mostly with families, had come in and settled 
in and about Islington. The people in coming to Hopkin- 
ton from Vermont came through Chesterfield, and it is not at 
all singular that some of them as they came along saw such 
fine timber, springs, brooks or soil for a farm that they stopped, 
built a cabin and settled or went back and did so after making 
a visit to Islington. It is even a little surprising that more 
of them did not do so and earlier than they did, but I suspect 
they all wished, as it was then a great forest, to locate in or 
near to a settlement. Men were then even more neighborly 
than they are now. 

I notice that Dr. Hough states that a Mr. Brewer came 
into Chesterfield in 1801 as the agent of Mr. Harrison, who 



202 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

then owned the township, and built him a cabin on what is 
known as the Carlton McEwen farm, situated in about the 
centre of the township. He soon sold out his agency to 
Samuel Tyler. Neither of them seems to have met with any 
or at least much success in securing settlers in the first few 
years. Very likely their ill success was due to the fact that 
there was considerable of a hero as a proprietor a few miles 
west in Stockholm by the name of Ebenezer Hulburd, and 
another by the name of Roswell Hopkins a few miles south- 
west in Hopkinton. 

There does not seem to have been any real settlement in 
Chesterfield till the spring of 1807. In the fall of the year 
1806 Joseph and Samuel Tyler from Piermont, N. H., 
Joseph St. Clair and Avery Saunders from Middlesex, Vt., 
Ephraim Martin from Bradford, Vt., and Abijah Chandler 
from Lebanon, N. H., came and selected farms and no 
doubt built cabins. They returned the following spring with 
their families, by sleds and punts, stopping in Hopkinton 
proper till the snow had gone off, When they went back 
to the tracts that had been selected in Chesterfield. The 
most of them settled in the central and southerly part of the 
town. 

In the same year the foregoing families were followed in 
May by Ira Allen, Sidney Dunton, James and Jonathan 
Pierce ; in June by Jonathan Stevens, Ambrose Servis and 
Jonathan Hartwell ; in July by Daniel C. Bastin, Jonathan 
Greene and James Saunders, and later in the same year by 
John Howard, Asa Griffin and John Prouty. Of these men 
Abijah Chandler, James and Jonathan Pierce and James 
Saunders had dealings with Mr. Hopkins in 1807 and 1808, as 
is shown by his old account book. Simeon Bushnell, 
though not named by Dr. Hough, was in all probability the 
first resident of Chesterfield who came into this locality. Early 
in 1805 he bought bread of Mr. Hopkins, and later in the 
same year began work for him for six months. 

The settlement of the town considerably increased in 
1 808, 1 809, and down to the breaking out of the War of 1 8 1 2, 
when, according to Dr. Hough, every settler in the town, 
excepting five families, fled the town, fearing, not so much 
the British soldiers, as a massacre by the Indians, who, it was 
everywhere reported, were being armed by the British and 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 203 

incited to a general slaughter of the settlers along the Cana- 
dian border. It would seem that nearly or quite all who so 
suddenly departed the town never returned. They evidently 
were not made of just the right material, and yet, as will be 
noticed, the most of them came from Vermont. I do not 
learn of any such fleeing from Hopkinton, though in all 
probability there were a good many individual cases of men 
who did go, since quite a number of early names did not 
long survive in the town. 

The fact that they did go and did not come back is shown 
by the fact that out of all the men I have named only two 
ever took title to any land in the town, viz., Joseph Tyler to 
a tract about a mile west of Lawrenceville, and Daniel C. 
Bastin to a tract south of that village on Ferris Street. These 
two men, I feel quite sure, with Abijah Chandler and Simeon 
Bushnell, make four of the five men who. Dr. Hough says, 
did not flee the town in 1812. 

After considerable inquiry I learn nothing as to several 
of the other pioneers 1 have named, and but very little as to 
any of them. I cannot locate James Pierce, though he held 
town positions and was active in church matters. It was he 
who filed a complaint with the church authorities against Ada 
Blanchard for intoxication. The Saunderses were in town for 
a long time, and descendants of them, as I am informed, still 
live in Franklin County, but I have been unable to learn 
where they lived in town or anything definite as to them. 
The same can be said of Ephraim Martin, though his name 
appears now and then in the town records. I regret that I 
have been unable to gather greater and more explicit infor- 
mation as to the early pioneers of the town. 

Sketches of Some of the Pioneers and Leading; Men of the Town. 

The lives of the pioneers, so far as I have been able to 
gather the data, with their families, and that of most of the 
leading men in more recent times, I give practically in their 
order of settlement in the town. One of the very first to 
actually settle was Abijah Chandler. The sketch and family of 
Samuel M. Simonds is given among the Hopkinton families, 
as he was actually a pioneer of that town from about 18 10, also 
that of Dyer L. Merrill for the same reason. The family of 
Mr. Chandler is put in the Hopkinton genealogical records 



204 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

for the reason that it is quite lengthy and written in the same 
form as those families. 

Samuel Harris. 

He came to town in or prior to 1807 from Middlesex, 
Vt., since his name appears in the census of 1807, and soon 
took up a tract of forest a short distance down what is called 
Ferris Street from the Turnpike and built his cabin near a fine 
spring then called Indian Spring. His only neighbors were 
Abijah Chandler and Elisha Allen. There was a tradition 
that it had been the summer camping ground of branches of 
the Coughenwaga tribe. His name is not given by Dr. 
Hough as one of the earliest pioneers, yet it is known that 
he was. He was a carpenter, and being such set to work to 
build himself a home a little better than the few rude cabins 
of his neighbors. He squared the logs and framed them 
together, thus building the first framed house in town in 
1809. Dr. Hough gives the credit of the first framed house 
to Daniel Harris in 1808, but it must have been Samuel. 
The old potato cellar of this cabin can still be seen a few 
rods north of the present residence. Mr. Harris died in 
1 8 10 and was buried in the old cemetery just back of the 
Dr. Sprague lot in Hopkinton village. His remains were 
later removed to the present cemetery grounds in Hopkinton, 

where a flat stone only marks the spot. His wife died , 

and is buried in the lot of her son Daniel at Nicholville. 

Samuel was a son of Samuel, who was born in Lebanon, 
N. H., about 1750. He had two brothers and three sisters; 
viz., Ezra, a Methodist minister; Daniel; Eunice, who 
married a Mr. Rogers; Polly, who married a Mr. Whitney; 
and Sally, who married a Mr. Carpenter. 

Samuel, Jr., had one son, Seth, by his first marriage, but 
he never came to these parts. His second marriage was to 
Lucy Wakefield, by whom he had eight children as follows : 
Samuel, born March 18, 1790. He married Manila Hoi- 
man, March 11, 1822, and died August 27, 1864, at . 

There were four children by this marriage: David H., born 
May 6, 1823, who married Alvira Ewer, July 4, 1843, at 
Granville, Wis. He died November 5, 1896, at Santiam, 
Ore., where his widow and children now reside. The 
second child was Juliette, who married a Mr. Debert of 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 205 

Indiana. The third, Emeline, married Mr. Garlinghousy of 
Indiana. The fourth, Dexter, concerning whom nothing can 
be found. 

The children of David H. were as follows: 

I. Benson, born June 27, 1844, in Granville, Wis.; 
married Violet Bramner, August 19, 1867, in Carroll County, 
Mo. ; now living at Sweet Home, Ore. ; no children. 

II. Ellen M., born April 10, 1848, died January 2, 
1854, at Granville, Wis. 

III. Mary E., born May 14, 1850, in Granville, Wis.; 
married Josiah Knepper, December 25, 1867; died July 18, 
1886, at Carroll County, Mo., leaving husband and four 
children. 

IV. Flora A., born May a, 1852; married Thomas 
Wharton, October, 1869; died July 8, 1886, at Carroll 
County, Mo., leaving husband and six children. 

V. Juliette, born March 29, 1858; died September 27, 
1869. 

VI. Alice M., born October 11, i860; married Henry 
Knepper of Carroll County, Mo., in 1878 ; moved to Linn 
County, Ore., where they now live. They have one 
daughter. 

VII. Dexter H., born July 4, 1864, in Carroll County, 
Mo.; married Lillie Bland, December 25, 1884, in Linn 
County, Ore.; died June 2, 1892, leaving wife, who died 
in 1900, and two children, Myrtle and Sylva, living at Lane 
County, Ore. 

VIII. Samuel, born December 8, 1866, in Carroll 
County, Mo.; married Mary E. Sylvester, July 9, 1895 5 ^^~ 
sides at Santiam, Oregon, and have a daughter and two sons. 

IX. Chester D., born February 3, 1870 ; married Sarah 
D. Vallery, October 9, 1890; living at Santiam, Ore., and 
have three sons. 

X. Dayton, born May 8, 1875, in Carroll County, 
Mo. ; married OUie J. Bogart, December 5, 1895, at Santiam, 
where he has been postmaster for six years, and has three 
daughters. 

The second child of Samuel, Jr., was Persis, who married 
Joseph Gilbert, a pioneer of Parishville. Their children 
were, Orson, who married Sarah Gray and died at Minnesota 
Lake with all his children ; A. Wilder, a veteran of the Civil 



2o6 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

War, who married Jane Gray, and died in 1898 at Parish- 
ville, leaving several children ; Galon, who married and died 
in Minnesota Lake, Minn., leaving no children ; and Melissa, 
who died unmarried at Minnesota Lake. 

The third child of Samuel and Lucy was Polly, who 
married Stephen Wescott, and nothing is known of her. 

The fourth child was Sally, who married Miner Moore 
and settled at Grand Meadow, Minn. Their children were, 
Daniel, who settled in the southern states, and Dexter, who 
was county clerk and died, leaving several children. 

The fifth child. Orange, never married, and died in Prairie- 
ville. Wis. 

The sixth child, Daniel, was born July 30, 1806, and died 
on the old home farm November 24, 1893. He married 
Christian M., daughter of John and Submit (Smead) Long, 
January 18, 1843. She died October 15, 1891. Their chil- 
dren were, J. A. ; Fannie, born August ao, i 845, who married 
Luther B. Day, November 14, 1870, and died February 8, 
1885, leaving a son, L. Clinton Day, born July 29, 1877, who 
married Harriet M. Baird, June 28, 1900, daughter of William 
and Elizabeth (Sharp) Baird, born October 17, 1881, Glasgow, 
Scotland; Mary G., born July 8, 1847, who married Luther 
B. Day, January 6, 1894, and died without issue May 29, 
1900; Daniel Garrett, born April 28, 1850, who married 
Blanche Francis, November 2, 1879, and lives at North Star, 
Minn. They have six children, viz., Helen M., Theodore 
D., Paul A., Francis G., Fannie and Lucy. 

The seventh child, Lavina, became deaf and dumb from 
scarlet fever when a child, and died in Dickinson unmarried. 

The eighth child was Parthena, who married Marchus 
Lowell and died at Malone, N. Y., in 1898, leaving a son, 
Lorenzo, who married Laura Rubideau. They reside at 
Lawrenceville and have four children, viz., Pearl, Ivan, Merlin 
and Earl. 

Daniel C. Bastin. 

According to Dr. Hough, he came into town in July, 
1807, with others. He took up a tract of one hundred and 
twelve acres situate on the west side of what has since been 
called Ferris Street, about four miles north from the Turnpike. 
Of all the men who came in prior to 1809 he and Joseph 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. zo; 

Tyler seem to be the only ones who took title, which he did 
in 1 84 1. His wife was Irena Sanders, and died at the old 
homestead in 1862. Mr. Bastin died in Lawrenceville in 
187a. 

They had eleven children: viz., Erastus, Sewell, Ruel, 
Riley, Daniel, Rufus, Warren, Orpha, Irena, Jane and Ma- 

ryette. Jane married Mr. Blake, and died in 1877. The 

only grandchildren, so far as I have been able to learn, are 
H. E. Blake, Azro L. Blake, Maryette Blake of Nicholville, 
Mrs. Olive Robinson of Upper Lake, N. Y., William Bastin 
of St. Regis Falls, and Mrs. Rev. George Harrison of Nichol- 
ville, N. Y. 

Simeon Bushnell. 

Simeon Bushnell was one of the very early pioneers of 
Chesterfield. His name is not given by Dr. Hough among 
those who came in 1807, yet he surely came to Islington in 
1805, as his name appears in Mr. Hopkins's account. He 
evidently very soon went to Chesterfield, as he took title to a 
hundred acres on the southerly side of the Turnpike a little 
over a mile east of the village in March, 18 10, and it is said 
to be the first title taken by any settler in town. His wife's 
name was Hannah Squire, and they were married February 
23, 18 15. According to all reports he was a fine man and 
had a fine family, which has nearly become extinct. He died 
January 24, 1858, aged eighty-one; and his wife March 22, 
1862, aged seventy-six. The frame house built by him at 
a very early date is still in use and but little altered in appear- 
ance. It is one of the oldest landmarks in town. A picture 
of it is here given. Mr. Bushnell was a brickmaker and 
made the first brick in the town. His yard was about two 
miles east on the Turnpike on the farm now owned by S. W. 
Chambers. The pit from which the clay was taken is plainly 
to be seen. 

The story of the family, so far as I have been able to 
gather it, is quite incomplete and indefinite. There were four 
children. George, the eldest, was born January 13, 18 16. 
He married Jane Farmer, and took title to eighty-two acres 
adjoining Daniel Harris on the north in 1859, where he 
farmed for a time. Afterwards he bought the farm opposite 
the Durfey place in Hopkinton, which he sold and went west. 



2o8 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Meeting with reverses, he drifted on to California and back to 
Iowa, where he died. They had three children : viz., Alice, 
who married Judge Barrett of San Luis, Obispo, Cal., who 

died leaving three children ; Eudora, who died in , Iowa, 

and William, living in , Iowa, the last heard of him. 

The second child of Simeon was William, born November 
9, 1817, and drowned April 13, 1835. 

The third was Sally M., born January 5, 1820. She mar- 
ried Daniel B. Kelsey, and they lived at Ox Bow, N. Y., 
where she died without issue December 21, 1893. They 
adopted a Miss Annie Levine, who married Frank De Wolf 
and reside at Antwerp, N. Y. 

The fourth was Darius, born August 29, 1822. He mar- 
ried Mary G. Clark, June 30, 1859, and held the old farm 
for many years, selling it late in life and going to Minneapolis, 
where he died November 26, 1894. They had one child, Ida, 
who also died there as did his wife. The old farm is now 
owned by Azro L. Blake, Esq. 

Thomas Day. 

Thomas Day was born at Springfield, Mass., moved to 
Pomfort, Vt., and then to Chesterfield about 18 12. He took 
up a tract about a mile east, where he built a cabin on the 
south side of the Turnpike. His son Warren took the 
first title to it in 1829, and it has since been known as the 
Warren Day place. It is now owned by Morris Day, a great- 
grandson of Thomas. The later years of his life were spent 
with his son Joel at Deer River, where he died March 16, 
1 85 1, aged eighty-four years. He was a carpenter and 
followed that trade through the active part of his life. His 
wife was Silence Mann, born at Pomfort, March 17, 1779, and 
died January 14, 186 1. 

There came to them nine children, viz. : 

I. Ruth, born April 20, 1800 ; died in early life. 

II. Warren, born December 15, 1802 ; married Philanda 
Perkins of Parishville and kept the home place. He died 
June 29, 1876 ; and his wife June 26, 1872. They had eight 
children, viz., Stephen (i), who died January 18, 1828. Har- 
vey (2), who married Mary Shales, was a millwright and set- 
tled in Lawrence and had four children, Morris, Fred, Rose 
and Robert. Ruth (3), married Elwood Ballard, farmer near 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 209 

Nicholville, and had four children, Emily, Dwight and Web- 
ster. Alma (4), who married Lucius Lockwood, blacksmith 
at Nicholville. Their children are Ella, Adelbert and Jennie. 
William (5), farmer at North Lawrence, married Melissa 
Burnham, and has four children, Hattie, Edith, Lynna and 
Leshe. Catherine (6), married Chandler Payne, settled in 
Lawrence and has two children, Eddie and Elsie. Harriet 
(7), married Newcomb Weston, mechanic, Nicholville. Their 
children are Bert, Pearl and Belle. Daniel Webster (8), mar- 
ried Marion Ballard, farmer, served three years in Civil War ; 
died at Nicholville May 10, 1889. Their children are Jean, 
Ernest, Everett, Effa and Ella. 

IIL Noble, born June 10, 1804; settled at Deer River 
on what is known as the Alonzo White place, and later on a 
farm on the west side of the river in Hopkinton, known as 
the Charles Weller place, where he died December 26, 1865. 
He married, first, Jane Lumbar, who died September i, 1863 ; 
and, second, Mahala Smith, who died February 15, 1872. 

IV. Lyman, born May 18, 1806. He was about six 
years of age when his parents came to town. He had a 
natural aptitude to trade and set out when young on foot 
with a tin trunk of goods. He prospered so well that he 
soon bought a horse and cart, and soon after built a store at 
Deer River, where he remained a few years when he built the 
"Red Store" at the top of the hill in Nicholville on the 
point formed by Prospect and Church streets, where he was 
in business many years as a merchant and lumberman. In 
1865 he settled in Muscatine, Iowa, where he was a merchant 
a year and a half, when he returned and went into business 
with Sumner Sweet as merchants, which continued about eight 
years, when he retired owing to failing health. He died at 
Nicholville, October 3, 1884. His three wives were Cathe- 
rine Farrar, who died February 22, 1832 ; Lurinda Smith, who 
died May 18, 1841 ; and Cornelia S. McEwen,who died Jan- 
uary 26, 1899. The children of Lyman Day were Ruthven, 
Amanda, Leslie, Carrie, Ovette, Attie and Anna. 

V. HosEA, born May 30, 1808 ; marriedSophiaMeacham; 
and settled on Kimball Street, a mile and a half north of Nich- 
olville, and died at Nicholville, October 12, 1886 ; and his wife 
March 16, 1866. They had one son, Noble E. 



2IO EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

VI. Joel, born January 28, 1811. Settled in Nichol- 
ville and was a millwright for many years. He died in 

, Mich. Their children (incomplete), Julia, Mary, 

Florence, Eugene and Winfield. 

VII. Jerusha, was born March 22, 1813. She married 
A. H. Doud, and died February 17, 1847. Her children are, 
Joel, Edgar and Clarissa. 

VIII. Russell, was born December 8, 18 16. He com- 
menced in life as a blacksmith, then an innkeeper and later 
as a farmer. He married Julia Sweet. He died April 6, 
1896, and his wife June 14, 1897. Their children, Celia, 
Howard, Celestia, Merton, Ella and Hubert. 

IX. Laura Ann, born February 28, 1821. Married 
Noble Ferris of Lawrenceville, a farmer, and died at Nichol- 
ville June 11, 1881. Their children were Hewie, Warren, 
who was killed at the battle of Cold Harbor, June i, 1864; 
and Florence, now Mrs. Luman O. Wilson of Nicholville, 
N. Y. (See his family.) 

Isaac Tfussell. 

Isaac Trussell and his wife, Lydia Kimball, came from 
-, Vt., about 1820, and took up a tract of one hundred 



acres on the southerly side of the Turnpike, two and one- 
quarter miles east of Nicholville. There they toiled and 
lived till the end, he dying July 29, 1862, aged eighty-five, 
and she June 29, i860, aged eighty. The only child of this 
marriage was Gilbert Trussell, born February 4, 1 804. He 
took first title to his father's tract in 1846. His wife, Hul- 
dah Newland, was born near Middleburg, Vt., August 5, 1809. 
They both died at North Lawrence, he March 11, 1879, and 
she December 7, 1893. He held the old farm till his death. 
It was sold a few years ago to William Garyey, the present 
owner. 

To them came five children, to wit : 

I. Jerome, born June 15, 1833. He was a successfiil 
merchant at North Lawrence for many years, where he died 
March 15, 1900. He married Alida Hogan. They have 
one daughter, Anna, now Mrs. Clarence King of Attleboro, 
Mass. 

II. Alfred N., born October 21, 1836. Married, sec- 
ond, Mary Homer. Living at Minneapolis, Minn., where he 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 211 

has been quite successful. He is the only one of the grand- 
children of Isaac now living. He has two daughters, Harriet, 
born February 20, 1867, "°w I^I^'S- F- A. Olds. She has two 
daughters, Eleanor, born April 20, 1895, and Elizabeth, born 
December 10, 1896. The second daughter is Helen H., 
born June 2, 1885. 

III. Albert, born October 21, 1836; died five years 
later. 

IV. Wayne was born , 1840, and died in 1845. 

V. Ellen, born , 1846, and died in Minneapolis 

April 4, 1882. She married Hon. Rufus Palmer of Law- 
rence. They had one child, LeRoy, now of Minneapolis, 
Minn. 

Horace Higgins. 

Horace Higgins came from Orwell, Vt., in February, 
1822, with his brother-in-law, Andrew Squire, who took a 
tract near a mile northwest of Mr. Higgins. Mr. Higgins 
very soon took up a tract of sixty acres and a little over, a 
mile down Water Street, lying on either side of the road and 
extending southerly to the river, and to which he got title 
September 19, 1825. He built along low cabin on the 
trail or road, the easterly room of which was used as a shop. 
The place has been known for years as the Hiram Wood 
farm and is now owned by Nancy Amidon. Discovering a 
water power in the river opposite or on his farm, he very 
soon built a dam and sawmill which was operated by various 
proprietors till 1851. It was burned down once and rebuilt. 
After Mr. Higgins, it was conducted by Dennis Stacy, 
Stephen Hamlin, William Hazlett, Charles D. McEwen 
and Hiram Wood. 

Mr. Higgins sold his farm and mill about 1836 and 
moved back to Orwell, Vt. He married Orrilla Bush of 
that place, by whom there were four children, viz. : 

I. Alonzo, born in Orwell, December,! 8 18. He mar- 
ried Charlana, daughter of Charles McEwen, and moved to 
Lawrence where she died leaving four children : viz., Charles, 
who died in the army, Hubert, Florence and Arthur. On 
the death of his wife he married Betsey E. Bigelow, by whom 
he had six children, all living. Mr. Higgins, though feeble, 
and his wife reside at No. 14 Spruce Place, Minneapolis. 



212 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

II. Amelia Janet, born , 1820; married Solon G. 

McEwen of Lawrence. In a few years they went to Orwell, 
Vt., and from there to Clymer, N. Y. They had four chil- 
dren : viz., Ann Amelia, who married ; Osden S., living in 
Oklahoma City ; George and Charles E., the latter living in 
Westfield, N. Y. The mother, A. Janet, died in Westfield 
in 1897, aged seventy-eight. 

III. Edson Stephen, born in Chesterfield in 1824. 
He married Euretta Cutts of Orwell, Vt., and settled at 
Clymer, N. Y. They had one son, Edson S., who died some 
eighteen years ago, leaving a daughter, with whom Edson's 
widow resides in , Minn. 

IV. Mary Eliza, born in Lawrence in 1828. She 
married Lineas Burke of Benson, Vt., and they moved to 

, 111., where she died many years ago, leaving a family, 

but no particulars are known. 

Dwight Noble Hig;g:ins. 

He came to town in 1823 and took the adjoining tract to 
his brother Horace next westerly. He married Delia Hall 
of Orwell, Vt., September 11, 1825. Oncoming to town he 
taught school in Sodom (Nicholville) winters, and worked as 
a carpenter summers in his brother Horace's sawmill. Horace 
had a long low log house, and the easterly end was used as a 
shop. To this shop Dwight took his bride, where they lived 
for a good part of a year and until he had built a log house 
of one room of his own, using a blanket for a door for a few 
days. The old Water Street schoolhouse, near the forks of 
the road, was of log and a cheap affair. It was warmed in this 
wise : A circular wall of stone or brick was built in the mid- 
dle of the room, the size of a potash kettle they had. In the 
centre of the bottom of the kettle a hole as circular as pos- 
sible was broken out, the kettle inverted on the arch work, 
and a piece of pipe put over the hole in the kettle and ex- 
tended up through the roof. Inside the arch work under the 
kettle the fire was built. 

Mr. Lliggins remained in town till 1838, when he went 
back to Orwell, then to Clymer, N. Y., for sixteen years, when 
he went to Somerset, N. Y., in 1874, where he died March 2, 
1881, and his wife, March 26, 1895. Their children were, 
Maria Delia, born February 23, 1829, and three sons who 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 213 

died in infancy. Their daugliter Maria D. gives me these 
particulars, and resides at Barker, N. Y. 

Myfon G. Peck. 

Myron G. Peck was a son of Rev. Ithiel Peck, and born 
December 27, 1791, at Cornwall, Conn. His father moved 
to Orwell, Vt., in 1805, where the son remained till March 
ao, 1822, when he came to Chesterfield and took up a tract 
about a mile down Water Street of seventy-three acres, to 
which he got title in 1825. PI ere he continued to live till his 
death, April 28, 1861. He married Electa Royce, October 
4, 1812. She was born March 23, 1795, and died October 
12, 1882. He was a bright, intelligent man and possessed 
much force and strength ot character. He took an active part 
in all town matters, held various town offices and was twice 
elected member of Assembly. In the Baptist Church he was 
supreme and had charge of the building of the church. 

His children were seven, viz. : 

I. Alphonso R., born June 22, 1813. He married 
Lucetta, daughter of Seth Abbott, who is now in her eighty- 
ninth year and lives with her adopted son, Frank M. Peck, at 
Potsdam. Alphonso settled in Madrid, N. Y., where he 
died May 28, 1883. 

II. Happalona, born March 20, 1815 ; married Royal 
Smith, July 2, 1838. She died June 28, 1895, at Nicholville. 
He was clerk ot the Baptist Church some thirty years at 
Nicholville, where he died. They had no children. 

III. Carlos, was born July 22, 181 8, and died October 
19, 1818. 

IV. Erasmus D., born March 20, 1820, and died July 
25, 1855. He married Lucy Walton, who was born March 
30, 1823, and died July 16, T899. They lived at Nicholville, 
where he was postmaster and died. They had two children, 
Walton, born in 1846, who died January 26, 1853 ; and Adel- 
bert R., born November 17, 1851. He married Lottie A. 
Thompson, April 24, 1877. They live in Lordsburgh, Cal., 
and have two children, Lillian E., born September 3, 1879 '■> 
and Leroy W., born December 13, 1888. 

V. William Carey, born May 20, 1823. He married 
Sarah Noble, September i, 1845, who '^ living at Malone, 
N. Y. They had two children, William N., born November 



314 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

9, 1846; died September i, 1901. He married Mary E. 
Greer of Washington, D. C, September 10, 1867. He was 
clerk in War Department forty years. Their seven children, 
to wit, William E., born April 20, 1868, died in two 
months; Laura Edith, born August 4, 1869; Ida Blanch, 
died at the age of four years ; Maude, died at thirteen months ; 
Paul Noble, born June 23, 1882; William H., died in in- 
fancy. Sarah Frances, born July 30, 1854, married Tom A. 
Klohs, October 4, 1894, Malone, N. Y. They have one 
child, Ethel J., born May 11, 1895. 

VI. Mary Maria, born December 19, 1826; died De- 
cember 3 I, 1826. 

VII. Andrew Jackson, born September 22, 1830; died 
April 24, 1833. 

Joseph E. Steams. 

Joseph E. Stearns was born in Southampton, Mass., 
March 14, 1778. He married Temperance Calkins, born in 
1764, and thus was fourteen years older than himself. She 
died in February, 1833. His second wife was Permelia Gil- 
lett, eleven years older than himself. She died September 28, 
1857. 

He came to Hopkinton in 1824 and settled on the John 
Henderson farm on Independence Hill, where he lived one 
year. Then he and his son-in-law, Jude Clark, bought the 
farm a half mile down Water Street from Nicholville. Horace 
Train had taken it up, and they bought his betterments. On 
this farm Stearns and Clark lived till the end. The title to it 
was taken by Mr. Clark in 1845. It was afterwards owned 
by Henry C. Witters, and is now by E. J. Sanford. 

To Mr. Stearns came three children, viz. : 

I. Fanny M., born April 20, 1799, and died July, 1873. 
She married Jude Clark in January, 1823, who died Decem- 
ber 25, 1878. They had three children : viz., a son, who died 
in infaney ; Amelia, born February 12, 1836 ; and Fanny M., 
born March 10, 1839, died aged two years. Amelia married 
Henry C. Witters of Nicholville, July 25, 1855. He was a 
son of John W. and Betsey (Pierce) Witters, who lived on 
south side of Turnpike, a mile and a half northeast of Nichol- 
ville. Mr. Witters was a bright, upright and successful man. 
He moved to Potsdam about 1885, where he was street com- 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 215 

missioner for several years, and died May 10, 1897. His 
widow still resides there. They had two children : viz., Fred- 
die Clark, born July, 1856, and died February, 1858; and 
Fannie Elizabeth, born September 28, 1858, and died August 
II, 1865. 

II. Daniel E., born November 6, 1801. He married 
Martha Crane, May 20, 1832, and settled in New York City. 
They had six children : viz., Cary D., born May 11, 1838, 
was a soldier, died June, 1897, in Soldiers' Home at Old 
Point Comfort; Daniel, who died In 1836 ; Martha M., born 
in 1838. She married Morris Wilkins of New York City. 
Of their six children four died in infancy. Clara and Robert 
are supposed to be living. The fourth child, Joseph E., born 
in 1 840, served on General Searl's staff, and died as the re- 
sult of a railroad accident. Charlotte, born in 1842, and J. 
Thomas, born in 1845, reside in New York City. 

III. Polly R., born in 1804. She married Stiles Tuttle 
in 1821. They came to Lawrence in 1835 ^^'^ after a little 
went to Ottawa, 111. They had four children : viz., Newton, 

born October, 1822. He married , and 

died September, 1855. He had two children, Catherine, who 
died young, and Josephine, who married James Payne and 
lives at Warren, 111.; the second child, Fanny M., born 
March, 1824, and died in the home of Mr. Stearns in 1852 ; 
Ermina L., born February, 1826, at Nicholville, and lives in 
Syracuse, N. Y. ; Edward, born October, 1829, and died at 
Detroit in 1885. He married Eliza McKay, and had two 
children, William E., living in Niagara Falls, and Elmer G., 
who died in childhood. 

Dennis Stacy. 

Dennis Stacy was born in Belchertown, Mass., September 
28, 1795. He spent several years in early life in Monkton, 
Vt., moving into Chesterfield in 1826, and settling on a 
farm on McEwen Street now held by H. M. Rose. He 
very soon abandoned this for the position of manager of the 
old stone gristmill, which he held for some years. He assisted 
in the organization of the town in 1828, and ever after took an 
active part in all town and political matters. He and Myron 
G. Peck and Josiah F. Saunders were the leading spirits in 
the Democratic party for many years. He was given the 



2i6 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

position of postmaster under Andrew Jackson in 1836, and 
held it till the close of Van Buren's term in 1841. On the 
organization of the Republican party in 1856, he joined that 
and remained with it steadfastly and loyally. At first and for 
some years he allied himself with the Baptist Church, but 
later withdrew from it owing to its position on the slavery 
question and joined the Methodist. He held the position of 
justice of the peace for many years. The practice of the law 
being very much to his liking, he made it a study and became 
quite proficient as a lawyer and advocate, giving considerable 
of his time for some years to the trial of suits. He pos- 
sessed a strong mind, a tenacious memory and was a great 
reader to the end. In his last years his reading was largely 
of the Bible, which he mastered to a remarkable degree. Dur- 
ing the last twenty-five years he was afflicted with extreme 
deafness. He died November 2, 1889, reaching nearly the 
great age of nine-five years. Plis wife was Marcia Tuttle and 
died , 1878. 

Their four children were, to wit : 

I. Sarah A., born ,1826, and died January 27, 

1883. She married Isaac B. Wilber, March 26, 1843. ^^ 
was born February 16, 18 16, at North Hero, Vt. They had 

six children; to wit, Leslie A., born , 1844, and died 

, 1847. 

Charles W., of Norwood, N. Y., born January 5, 1847; 
married Delia E. Myers, September 29, 1870, and had four 
children: viz., Gertrude M., born April 26, 1872; Ber- 
tram I., born February 10, 1875, died February 23, 1877; 
Viola M., born July 10, 1878 ; and Lillian M., born March 
II, 1880. 

William H., born July 13, 1848, and died October 28, 
1864. 

Frank E., of Cornwall, Ont., born February 8, 1850; 
married Eva Washburn, August 9, 1870, who had three chil- 
dren: viz., Minnie O., born October 13, 1871, and died Sep- 
tember 27, 1872 ; Emma, born October 3, 1873 ; and Lulu, 
born August 27, 1876. 

Clarence G., of Norwood, N. Y., born July 19, 1858; 
married Abbie Barlow, January 29, 1885, to whom came two 
children: viz., Gladice, born July 19, 1888; and Flancie, 
born July 25, 1898. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 217 

Hurburt B., of Norfolk, N. Y., born September 23, i860; 
married Myra Kingsley, February 26, 1885, and have one 
child, Francis, born January 26, 1895. 

Mr. Isaac B. Wilber married for his second wife Laura 
Belding, February 25, 1862, by whom he had two children, 
viz. : 

Frederick, of Norfolk, N. Y., born March 8, 1863 5 ™^''" 
ried Anna Jahn, August 11, 1896, and have five children: 
viz., Hazle, born April 29, 1897 ; Emily, born July 18, 1898; 
Frederick, born December 16, 1899; Roena, born February 
12, 1 901 ; and Charles H., born July 31, 1902. 

Sadie L., born October 8, 1868; married Fred Seaver, 
December 27, 1892, and resides at Watertown, N. Y. 

II. Emma Roy, born November 26, 1826, at Monk- 
ton, Vt. Mr. Stacy moved to Chesterfield the same year. 
She was a bright accomplished woman and taught school many 
years. She married R. R. Ainsworth of Nicholville in March, 
1848, and died February 21, 1901. They had no children. 

III. Helen, born June i, 1829; married Loren Smith. 
(See Josiah Smith's record.) 

IV. George Boardman, born May 23, 1833. His life 
has been that of a lawyer at Nicholville. He was a careful, 
painstaking attorney and a safe and judicious counsellor. Of 
late he has been in poor health. He married Minnie Brow- 
nell, who was born April 9, i 845. Their children were Ernest 
G., born June 25, 1870, and died October 27, 1897; Mary 
Bell, born May 17, 1875, ^^° married L. E. Hawkins of 
Nicholville in August, 1893, they have one child, Dorothy, 
born July 8, 1897; Maud M., born December 26, 1882. 

Oiange B. Clark. 

Orange B. Clark was born May 29, 1796, at Hinesburgh, 
Vt., and on November 17, 1822, married Hannah G. Sweet 
of that place, born October 2 8, 1796, and moved into Ches- 
terfield, June 7, 1826, with two span of horses, a yoke ot 
oxen, cart and seven head of cattle. He bought a tract of 
one hundred and fifty acres about a mile north of Nicholville 
on Depot Street with only seven acres cleared on the north 
end. The only road to the village was the cross or EUithorpe 
road. When the Depot Street road was cut and made, which 
he helped build, he built his house and barn on the south end 



2i8 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

of his lot, only a half mile from the village. Game was plenty 
in those days. On one occasion he came across two bucks 
fighting, and as they came opposite each other in their ma- 
noeuvres he killed both at one discharge. At another time he 
had a narrow escape from an infuriated bear which he had 
wounded, but succeeded in killing. 

He had three brothers, Jude, Edmund and Ralsey, and 
two sisters. Alpha, who married Elihu D. Ayers, and Orilla, 
who married Willard Alden, son of Rufus. They all came 
from Hinesburgh at about the same time and settled so com- 
pactly that their tracts joined. All continued to live in town 
till the end. Orange B. Clark died December 20, 1859, and 
his wife August 19, 1884. They had a family of six girls and 
one son, to wit : 

I. Annice C, born October 31, 1823, and died May 30, 
1839. 

II. Mary M., born March 22, 1825, and died May 16, 
1885. 

III. Celinda O., born May 2, 1827; married James 
Tharrett, June 9, 1851. They live in Hopkinton on the cor- 
ner formed by the junction of the old Northwest Bay road 
with the Turnpike. They had six children: viz., Annie, born 
November 29, 1851; married Allen Mathews, who owns 
the old Page farm across the road from her father ; George, 
born February 18, 1855, went west and nothing known of 
him; Eva I., born June 5, 1859, married Josiah Smith, and 
lives on Samuel Goodell's place near by ; Clark, born July 5, 
1863, married Addie Adams, and lives with his parents ; Nel- 
lie, born June 11, 1865, married Edgar Courser, and lives in 
Parishville ; and Milton, born April 10, 1871, married Ida 
Martin, and lives a mile south of his father. 

IV. Louisa A., born September 15, i 831, and died April 
15,1836. 

V. Milton J., born July 16, 1833; married Harriet 
Mead, November 15, 1856, who died May 7, 1858. They 
had one child, Caudice L., born September 11, 1857; and died 
June 2, 1878. On September 11, 1879, he married for his 
second wife Margaret A. Leary, born July 28, 1864. To 
them came five children : to wit, Hannah I., born June 6, 
1880; Milton O., born December 6, 1881; Edmond, born 
October 17, 1883 ; Martha P., born November 17, 1886 ; and 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 



219 



Jude, born February 4, 1889. Mr. Clark keeps the old 
homestead and lives a short distance down Depot Street. 

VI. LoRAiNE, born May 8, 1835, ^"'^ '^'^'^ November 
21, 1852. 

VII. RoDiLLA H., born April 30, 1838, and died April 
7, 1890. 

Danforth Ellithorpe. 

Danforth Ellithorpe was born in Orwell, Vt., November 
17, 1797, where he married Paulina Phelps and three of their 
children were born. He came to what is now Nicholville 
about 1826, 1827, and settled on the short road that cuts 
across from the Turnpike to Depot Street, formerly called 
Ellithorpe road. Two brothers came about the same time, 
one settling near by on the same road and the other a short 
distance down Depot road. He opened a blacksmith shop 
on his lot at once and very soon after went into the village, 
where he did the same business for some years. In or about 
1826 he built a sawmill immediately below the stone grist- 
mill. Some years later he purchased a large farm two and a 
half miles northeast of the village on the Turnpike, where he 
resided till his death November 14, 1877. EI is wife was a 
daughter of Elnathan and Pheba Phelps, born April 10, 
1797, and died May 23, 1867. 

Their eight children were as follows : 

I. Casindana E., born November 22, 181 8; married 
Henry B. Sanford. (See Jonah Sanford.) 

II. Polly, born September 20, 1821, and died March 
15, 1843. She married Albert Curtis, and died soon after- 
wards. 

III. Henry, born December 26, 1825, and died in in- 
fancy. 

IV. LivoNA, born January 27, 1831; died Decem- 
ber 6, 1898. She married Theodore B. Smith. They had 
two sons at least, Bert of Providence, R. I., and Adelbert of 
Norwood, N. Y. 

V. Thurman D., born August 17, 1833. He remained 
with his father on the farm till he was twenty-one, when he 
went into the Nicholville co-operative store, where he con- 
tinued for fifteen years. Succeeding this he was six years in 
the dry goods business on his own account at Nicholville. 



220 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

He has held the position of justice and various other positions 
of trust and confidence. In 1870 he married Addy S. Wood, 
daughter of Elihu Ayers. No children. 

VI. Alphonso p., born April 30, 1836, and died 
December 6, 1898. 

VII. Rosalia A., born May 2, 1839, and died May 2, 
1869. Married Frederick B. Chandler, went to California 
and died there, leaving two children. 

VIII. Pascal B., born August 27, 1841 ; married Miss 
Ella Faulkner of Parishville. He holds and owns the old 
homestead. They have a fine family of five sons and a 
daughter, to wit, Thurman D., George F., Pascal, Henry F., 
Howard and Celestia A. 

Ralsey Clark. 

Ralsey Clark, born in Hinesburgh, Vt., March 25, 1805. 
In 1827, his parents having died, he went to Wilmington, 
N. y., where he remained till i 832, when he came to Lawrence 
and settled a quarter of a mile down Water Street on the 
southerly side, where he died March 31, 1843. In 1837 he 
married Cynthia Duntley. He did much clerical work and 
was clerk of the town for several years. On his death the 
farm was held by his widow till her death, February 21, 1887. 
It is now owned by Mrs. William Fortune. 

To them came three children, two of whom died in in- 
fancy. Wealthy R., the only living child, was born , 

and married William Fortune, March 9, 1862. 

Their six children are as follows : Mattie L., born May 1 1, 
1863, married E. H. Brombey, January, 1886, and have a 
daughter and son, lives at Lawrence, N. Y. ; Ralsey, born 
May 21, 1865, and died January 10, 1867; Libbie C, born 
March 3, 1867, married W. F. Mould, October, 1893, of 
St. Regis Falls, and has two daughters; Vernon C, born 
March 11, 1869, and lives at Lawrence, N. Y. ; Archie W., 
born May 22, 1872, and is a teacher; Ernest, born April 5, 
1874, and lives at Lawrence. 

Enos Burt. 

Enos Burt was born at Windsor, Vt., May 28, 1801, and 
in 1825 married Lucy Ann Osgood. They, in company with 
others, started in midwinter 1827, with ox teams and one 




CHURCH STREET, NICHOLVILLE MERRILL BLOCK. 




HOUSE BUILT BY SIMON BUSHNELL. 
Oldest house in town of Lawrence. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 221 

horse, on a twelve days' journey to the sparsely settled town- 
ship of Chesterfield. He selected a tract of fifty acres on both 
sides of Kimball Street, later called Depot Street, some four 
miles north of Nicholville. He built on the parcel on the 
west side of the road and very soon after built a small tannery 
and also a harness and shoe shop. He was a bright, prosper- 
ous man, working on his farm and in the tannery summers, 
and at the shoe and harness business in the winters. He was 
the first collector of his town. In the militia he rose to the 
position of captain, by which title he was afterwards known. 

He died where he had toiled , 1888, and his wife, , 

1885. The farm, increased to two hundred acres, was sold 
in 1892 to William Morrell. 

Sumner Sweet. 

Sumner Sweet was born in Huntington, Vt., September 
19, 1829, and came to Lawrence with his parents in March, 
1 83 1. At an early age he began a mercantile life by entering 
the store of Lyman Day as a clerk. From here he went to 
Bangor, N. Y., for a time as clerk for Dickinson & Patterson. 
He was for a short time in trade with his brother-in-law, Rus- 
sell Day, in what is known as the Carrie White building in 
Nicholville. In 1852 he went to Boston, entering a large dry 
goods house as salesman, where he remained till 1857, when 
he returned and purchased a stock and store at East Dickin- 
son. Ten years later, in company with Mr. Day, he built 
what has since been known as the Sumner Sweet & Co. store 
in Nicholville. His brother, Henry H., soon after entered 
the firm. It became a widely known business house, doing a 
large and lucrative business. 

In politics he was a Democrat and the acknowledged head 
of the party in the town, and quite a factor in his party in the 
county. However, he was not at all offensive in his partisan- 
ship, as is shown by the fact that in 1876 he was elected super- 
visor of his town, which was and is very strongly Republican. 
He was a most estimable man in every respect, and held the 
respect and confidence of all who knew him. In October, 
1857, he married Hannah M. Wilkinson, who still survives 
him. No children came of this marriage. His death oc- 
curred February 10, 1891. 



222 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

, Hiram Wood. 

Hiram Wood came to town from Plainfield, Vt., in June, 
1837. William Reed, who married a sister of Mrs. Wood, 
came with him. They settled about a mile north of Law- 
renceville, near the cemetery grounds, where Mr. Wood con- 
tinued to reside till January, 1842, when he moved to the 
place now owned by Mrs. Amidon, just south of the Water 
Street schoolhouse. He soon purchased the sawmill on the 
St. Regis River, just back or south of his place, and run it 
alone or in company with Mr. Hazlitt some eight or ten 
years, when for lack of timber in the vicinity it was aban- 
doned. Mr. Wood was a cooper by trade and followed this 
vocation in connection with his sawmill and later with farm- 
ing until 1874, when he sold or traded his farm with Richard 
Amidon and moved to upper Main Street in Nicholville, 
where he died April 20, 1882. His wife, who was a frugal, 
industrious and noble woman, survived him over ten years, 
dying December 22, 1892, highly respected and beloved. He 
was a very industrious man and also a man of the strict- 
est integrity, and carried his honesty of purpose into all his 
work, dealings and undertakings. He was descended from 
sturdy English stock, his ancestors, Thomas and Anna (Todd) 
Wood, emigrating to this country about 1638 from Mattock, 
England, and settling in the town of Rowley, Mass. Some 
of their descendants a generation or two later settled in Men- 
don, Mass. The town of Uxbridge was later formed from a 
part of Mendon, and from this town Benjamin Wood, the 
father of Eliram, emigrated to Barre, Vt., in the spring of 
1802. There Hiram was born, February 16, 18 10. He 
married Sarah Parks of Plainfield, Vt., November 17, 1833, 
and in 1837 they moved to Lawrence, as formerly stated. 
Their only child was E. Allen Wood of Nicholville, an active, 
intelligent and public-spirited citizen. He was born July 6, 
1 841, and married Emily Frances Chandler, daughter of Lewis 
and Ornida (Beecher) Chandler, January 15, 1868. She was 
born July 24, 1843. (See Chandler family.) To them were 
born four children : viz., Benjamin Walton, born November 
9, 1868; Hiram Lewis, born December i, 1870; Alice Viola, 
born July 15, 1873 ; and Grace Town, born June 26, 1875. 
Benjamin W. married Nellie McClelland of St. Johns, N. B., 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 223 

December 27, 1892. They have one child, Grace Emily, born 
December 6, 1896. 

Lyman Page. 

Lyman Page married Loraine White in 1836 at Leicester, 
Vt., and came to town in 1839, settling on the farm on Depot 
Street a mile north of Nicholville, now owned by Charles 
Sanford. She was a sister of Mark and Alonzo White. He 
soon after purchased the sawmill just below the gristmill and 
a few years later sold a half interest to Benjamin F. Hilliard. 
It was run many years by them as a custom mill, taking toll 
in lumber for sawing. 

Some years later he branched out as a builder and con- 
tractor, building the depots, roundhouse and turntable at 
Chateaugay in 1 849, which place was for nearly a year the 
end of the railroad as it was being built from Ogdensburg. 
While this work was in progress he lived in Chateaugay. 
He also built the depot at Winthrop and Brandy Brook. 

In 1854 he returned to Nicholville and tore down the old 
mill and built one much larger. The former was so crude 
and slow in action that I am told the man in charge would 
set a log and then go and hoe his garden for two hours or 
more while the saw was passing the length of the log. The 
new mill had what was called a Yankee gate, a double affair, 
one side slabbing the logs to ten inches and the other sawing 
the slabbed logs into boards. This was such an improve- 
ment that it was the admiration of all. 

The panic of 1857 so deadened business that he gave up 
making lumber and went into the manufacture of sash and 
doors in the upper part of the mill, and in 1867 added 
spruce shingles to his business, which he continued till 1887, 
when the mill and business passed into the hands of his son- 
in-law, J. H. Knowlton. 

In addition to his railroad work he built a church at North 
Lawrence, one at Lawrenceville, two churches, Lyman Day's 
residence and several other buildings in Nicholville, and school- 
house in Hopkinton. For many years he was the largest con- 
tractor and builder in that section. In 1855 or 1856 he sold 
his farm and purchased the Joseph Smith farm on the south 
or Hopkinton side of the river, where he lived till his death. 



224 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Mr. Page was born February 14, 1812, and died Novem- 
ber 4, 1894. His wife was born June 12, 181 8, and died 
August 15, 1898. Their children were as follows: 

I. Mark R., born October 26, 1838, at Liecester, Vt. ; 
married Sarah M. Merrill, October 5, 1865. Was in business 
at Nicholville as a manufacturer of potato starch, etc., until 
1886, when he went to Minneapolis, where he now resides. 
(See Dyer L. Merrill's record.) 

II. Royal C, born at Nicholville, October 31, 1840; 
married Helen Thomas of Lawrenceville, August 31, 1864. 
Settled in Nicholville, later went to Minneapolis, where he 
died February 3, 1899. 

III. Jane G., born December 22, 1842 ; married Leslie 
L. Day, June 8, 1864. Soon went to Muscatine, la., and in 
1867 moved to Hutchinson, Minn., where he died January 
6, 1901. 

IV. Ward W., born October 25, 1846; married Kate 
M. Wheeler of Redwing, Minn., where he resided till 1878, 
when he went to Minneapolis, where he now resides. 

V. Wright B., born at Chateaugay, N. Y., June 8, 
1850; married Ella Florence Snill of Minneapolis, June 5, 
1878, where he resided till his death, January 27, 1888. 

VI. Mary L., born March 20, 1854 at Nicholville; 
married J. H. Knowlton of that place March, 1879, where 
they resided till her death, March 27, 1893. 

East Villagfe or Nicholville. 

Mr. Risdon in his diary calls the settlement at this place 
East Village on nearly or quite every occasion. It was by the 
people more or less called Sodom from about 1822 to 1830, 
due to a distillery that flourished there for a short time and 
the too free use of liquor by the people, and yet I notice Mr. 
Risdon does not at any time speak of it by that name or men- 
tion the fact. After the settlement had considerably increased 
on the Lawrence side through the efforts of Mr. E. S. Nic- 
olls, the executor of William Lawrence's will, the place slowly 
but steadily began to take the name of Nicholville, by which 
it has since been known. Some years later, when it was learned 
that Mr. Nicolls had not been true to his trust, an effort was 
made to give the place another name, but it failed of consum- 




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EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 225 

mation. The settlement for the first few years was very 
largely or wholly on the south or Hopkinton side of the 
river, excepting that there were a few settlers a half mile or so 
north from the river in Lawrence, to wit, Abijah Chandler, 
Simeon Bushnell. 

In I 817 Samuel Wilson of Hopkinton purchased a tract" 
of twelve acres situate just west of Samuel Goodell's farm, 
which parcel included the south shore of the St. Regis River 
for some distance above and below the present crossing at 
Nicholville. Whether there were any settlers on that shore 
at this point prior to this I do not learn, but I feel confident 
there were none, and certainly none on the north or Lawrence 
side nearer than Abijah Chandler. The lot so purchased by 
him is shown on the map of the town. Whether there was 
a bridge over the river at this place at this time I am unable to 
say definitely, but I am disposed to think there was, or if not 
then there was one a hundred rods or more down the river, 
or at least a crossing. 

When the British made the raid on Hopkinton in 1814 
they forced Samuel Goodell to hitch up and carry some of the 
officers to Malone or Fort Covington. It is tradition in his 
family that as he started off with his load he made up his 
mind to in some way force or run his team off the bridge 
over on to ice below or into the river and thus kill or drown 
his passengers. Then, too, it is well known that the Turnpike 
road had been considerably worked prior to this from Parish- 
ville to this point and also on through Chesterfield and into 
Franklin County. At the place of present crossing the banks 
were too high and steep to permit of crossing except by 
way of a bridge considerably elevated from the bed of the 
river. 

The First Sawmill. 

In the summer of 1817, as we learn from Dr. Hough and 
in several other authentic ways, Mr. Wilson built a dam 
across the river about where the present dam stands and also 
a sawmill on the Hopkinton shore a little below the dam and 
where the present sawmill stands. There was a flume leading 
to it from the dam. Mr. Eliphalet Brush worked on this 
dam as we learn from the leaves of his old account book pre- 
served by his grandson, Charles H., showing charges for such 



2z6 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

labor. Then again we learn from Mr. Kent's diary that the 
sawmill was raised on the 28th of July, 18 17. This was 
certainly the first mill of any kind at East Village or Nichol- 
ville. At the time of building the dam, as we learn from 
authentic tradition, there was quite an island in the river. 
The dam was built across just at the head of this island. This 
mill stood at the right of No. 3 in picture, but is not shown. 

The First Carding: Mill. 

Not long after the building of the sawmill Mr. John 
Thomas of Hopkinton built a carding mill on the south or 
Hopkinton shore close up to the bridge where the planing 
mill now stands. Messrs. Thomas and Wilson were the two 
most enterprising, industrious men in town. They were build- 
ing mills, shops and factories all the time, which must have 
been a great boon to the settlers. Each was of a mechanical 
turn of mind naturally, else they could not have done what 
they did, and how fortunate it was that they were ! 

The building built by Mr. Thomas was removed about 
1849, and ^h^ present building erected by Ezra Hyde and his 
brother-in-law, William Lyman. They had a spinning jenny, 
looms and cloth dressing machinery, enough to do quite a 
large business, but it never proved a success. The manufac- 
turing part of the business was soon abandoned, but Mr. 
Hyde used it a great many years for a custom carding and 
cloth dressing mill. It was used for some years by J. A. 
Thomas and N. G. Weston in connection with their building 
and contracting ; also by E. B. Lord and R. P. Cheney for 
the manufacture of butter tubs, and by L. O. Wilson and 
M. R. Page for a potato starch factory. The building has 
gone sadly to decay, and its present ownership would be very 
hard to determine. It is and has been for several years used 
by J. R. Parker for a planing mill, and latterly a cider mill 
has been added. 

This mill stood still farther to the right of No. 3. 

The First Hotel. 

In the spring of 1820 quite a number settled in and about 
East Village. Among these were John Curtis and wife, Eli 
Bush, his wife and three children, viz., Ebenezer, Eli, Jr., 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 227 

Clarissa, and his wife's sister, Miss Nancy Castle. The latter 
married Philo, son of Abijah Chandler. They all came in 
by the way of the Northwest Bay road, through what was 
known as the fifty-mile wilderness. 

Mr. Bush and family moved into the house of Samuel 
Wilson, standing at the top of the hill and on the westerly 
side of the road, where Ernest Canfield now lives. Their 
nearest, if not their only, neighbors were Mr. John Pomeroy, 
who lived in the long house a few rods up the road where 
Merton Lindsay now lives, Samuel Goodell some eighty rods 
west on the road to Hopkinton, and Amasa Blanchard a little 
farther west across the road. Mr. Bush and one Chester 
Armstrong worked for some time in the carding mill at the 
end of the bridge. He, Bush, built himself a house in 1820 
at the top of the hill on the westerly side of the road where 
J. M. Simonds's house now stands, and soon began keeping 
an inn. He was followed as proprietor by Joseph Sheals, 
father of Mrs. E. Harmon Risdon, who died there, and his 
widow married Asahel Kent. Succeeding him it was kept by 
a Mr. Farr and also by Levi Chapman. It burned April 6, 
1835, as we learn from Mr. Risdon's diary, and was then 
called the Chapman place. 

The Distillery at East Village. 

In the official records of the town I find that a road was 
surveyed in 1821 from the foot of the hill on the Hopkinton 
side, beginning at a point four rods from Samuel Wilson's 
house and extending down on the bank of the river one hun- 
dred and twenty-five rods to John Thomas's still. This whis- 
key manufactory stood under the hill on the bank of the river 
near a fine flowing spring, just behind the residence of Samuel 
Goodell. Just when it was built I cannot say, but probably 
about this time. He built a hotel in Hopkinton in 18 17, and 
was foreclosed and sold out in 1820. Were it not for this 
survey bill we could not say who built it or just when it did 
run. It is the only record evidence of its existence that I 
have learned. No ruins are to be found about the spring. 
However, Mr. Allen Wood tells me that a few years since by 
digging a little he found relics, proving that a shop of some 
kind was once there. But very few people are aware that there 



228 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

was ever a distillery in the town. It caused at the time quite 
a little unpleasantness and created some bitterness and feeling 
among certain families. Mrs. Samuel Goodell, as I learn, was 
bitterly opposed to it. It was a small still, and probably its 
product or nearly all of it was sold to the people round about. 
I judge that was the case, since several elderly people recall 
that the village for a time bore such a reputation for drinking 
and carousing that it was given the name Sodom, which clung 
to it for some years. 

Dr. Hough states in his history of Nicholville that a dis- 
tillery was built there in 1824. In this he was mistaken. 
There never was any still in Nicholville on the Lawrence side. 
The only one was this of Mr. Thomas's which, from the sur- 
vey bill, appears to have been already built in 1821. After 
Mr. Thomas, it was run by Joshua Gurley for a short time, 
when it burned down, as Mr. Wood tells me, in 1824. There 
were some suspicions at the time, it seems, that its burning 
was not wholly due to spontaneous combustion. 

The survey bill of the road to the still shows that Mr. 
Wilson then had a house under the hill, where no doubt the 
men in charge of his sawmill lived. In 1821 he married 
Sally, daughter of Amasa Blanchard, who lived only a quarter 
of a mile distant. He and his wife lived with her parents until 

the death of the survivor of them in , as his daughter, 

Mrs. Wilkins, born in 1822, informs me. 

This still was down the road shown in foreground, to the 
left. 

The First Gristmill. 

According to Dr. Hough, Mr. Wilson built a gristmill 
in 1822 on the south or Hopkinton shore near the sawmill. 
In this he was certainly in error. Mr. Wilson's daughter, 
Mrs. N. Maria Wilkins of Stowe, Vt., born in 1822, has a 
very clear recollection of what she knew and learned of those 
early times, and she says that the gristmill built by her father 
stood on the upper end of the island in the middle of the 
stream and close up to the bridge. In this she is supported 
by several other elderly people. She says further that the mill 
was a frame, two-story structure, and that the people coming 
there with grist could throw it from their wagons through 
the open door into the gristmill. The stones used for grind- 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 229 

ing were cut or hewn from the field rock In the pasture at the 
head of the pond and on G. T. Canfield's farm. This being 
the case, the bridge must have been over or nearly over the 
dam. The second story was used by Hiram Blanchard as a 
wheelwright shop, and was so used at the time of the freshet. 
Mr. Wilson conducted this mill till its destruction by flood in 
I 830. He was a natural mechanic and millwright and won 
considerable praise for the quality of flour which he manu- 
factured. 

The Stone Gristmill. 

In 1826, 1827, a stone gristmill was built on the Lawrence 
side, just below the northerly end of the bridge, by E. S. 
Nicolls, the executor of the will of William Lawrence, who 
owned the township of Chesterfield and died in New York in 
1824. What occasion there was for a second mill I do not 
see, unless it was to get the toll of the settlers, who were then 
becoming quite numerous. The mill was conducted by his 
executor and heirs until about 1857 or 1858, when it passed 
into the hands of Messrs. Nelson and Rev. Austin Wood- 
ward, who tore it down to the ground floor in i860 and re- 
built the present wooden mill on the old foundation. The 
work was done by Lyman Page and cost $1 1,000. The mill 
is No. I in picture. 

I often went to this mill when a small lad, and how 1 
dreaded the descent of the big hill with a load. As a boy I 
never could understand why a mill was erected in such a deep 
gulch or why a village should be built about it. 

In about 1868 Messrs. Woodward were succeeded by 
Benjamin Babcock, who ran it till his death in 1879, when it 
passed into the hands of his son, Charles H. After his death 
in May, 1890, it was conducted by his widow for a few years, 
when it was sold, about 1894, to James H. Knowlton, the 
present owner. This purchase gave Mr. Knowlton the entire 
water power and mill business on the north side of the river, 
which he still retains (January, 1903). In connection with his 
gristmill and lumber interests he has conducted a store under 
the hill many years, or until 1902, when he sold his mercan- 
tile business to Cordon D., son of Charles H. Babcock, who 
is doing a thriving and prosperous business. 



2 30 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

The Great Freshet. 

The greatest freshet ever known on the river took place 
in June, 1830. Mrs. Wilkins says there had been a some- 
what protracted rain and that on a Sunday came a downpour 
lasting only a half hour or so, but filling all the streams to 
overflowing. When over, the men, women and children 
rushed to the river to see what should happen to their shops 
and mills in which they were so much interested. The more 
daring went on to the bridge while the others lined the shore 
watching the raging torrent. Presently the bridge began to 
tremble, when there was a wild scramble to reach the shore, 
which the last was just able to do. The bridge went down 
with a crash and, being just over the dam, injured and weak- 
ened that and away it went. The long flume on the south 
shore leading to Mr. Wilson's sawmill burst and the water 
rushed under and tore out much of its foundation. As the 
dam gave way the gristmill on the island was swept down 
stream a few rods bolt upright, where it defied the torrent for 
a half hour, when it too succumbed and was swept on. This 
was a severe blow to Mr. Wilson, but he bore it with great 
fortitude and set to work to rebuild. A footbridge was put 
up at once. The piers for the bridge were this time built 
several feet higher than before, thus considerably elevating the 
new bridge. 

While building the bridge and the bare stringers only had 
been laid, Miss N. Maria Wilson was observed one day out 
on a stringer with a boy a few years older a few feet 
ahead of her. They had set out to cross over on the 
stringer, twenty feet or more above the water. To call 
them might frighten them, and so the men about stood in 
breathless silence till they should cross. However, Mr. 
Hiram Blanchard took off a good part of his clothing ready 
to plunge in should it be necessary. It was not. Being with- 
out fear they went over in safety. Reaching the other shore 
the most unconcerned of all, her uncle Hiram, taking her 
kindly by the hand, said, " I guess you better go back on the 
footbridge," and she did. 

There was considerable trouble and litigation over the re- 
building of the dam between the towns and Mr. Wilson. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 231 

Judge Sanford acted as Mr. Wilson's counsel, but I do not 
learn just what the point of controversy was. 

The flood tore away quite a part of the island, and suc- 
ceeding freshets have worn it down to a bit of an island some 
ten rods below the dam. 

Rebuilding of Mr. Wilson's Mill. 

Mr. Wilson repaired and enlarged his sawmill on the 
south bank. As rebuilt there was a sawmill in one part and 
a gristmill with two run of stone in the other, which stones 
were recovered from the wreck of the former mill. For the 
convenience of customers a footbridge was built from the 
highway bridge down to the mill. The two mills were run by 
Mr. Wilson for many years. His eldest son, Hiram R., was 
killed in the machinery of the stone gristmill November 21, 
1843, ^s I learn from the diary. He was a bright young man 
of eighteen years. 

In 1852 a gang sawmill was built on the site of the old 
Wilson mill by Edson J. Wilson, son of Samuel, and William 
C. Blish. It was only completed when Mr. Blish sold all his 
interest to Wells S. Dickinson and Clark Patterson of Bangor. 
The new firm built a potato starch factory just below the saw- 
mill and only eight feet from it. The starch factory burned 
down that fall while in operation. At the time of the fire 
Robert Bowles of Bangor and a man by the name of Bently, 
employees in the factory, were asleep in the building. Arous- 
ing at last and finding the building in flames they were dazed 
and bewildered. Mr. Bowles frantically ran through the kiln 
room and was so badly burned that he died in a few hours. 
Mr. Bently rushed down into the lower part of the mill and 
escaped unharmed. Notwithstanding the factory was only 
eight feet from the sawmill, the latter was saved through the 
heroic eflx)rts of E. J. Wilson and others. It was rebuilt at 
once. The kiln this time was built on the island out in the 
river with a footbridge to it. 

After two years of partnership Mr. Wilson sold his inter- 
est to his associates, who ran the mill about four years, when 
they sold to Harrison Hollenbeck. He sold to Messrs. 
James Shearer and W. G. Taggart, and they to Messrs. 
Henry C. and John L. Witters about 1865. They ran it 



232 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

two or three years and sold to S. B. Goff. He conducted it 
till his death. In 1896 the sawmill was purchased by Luman 
C. Wilson, another son of Samuel. He sold it in August, 
1902, to S. W. and R. S. Chambers. They use it as a cus- 
tom mill and have also placed in it an electric light plant. 
They are at present (January, 1903) furnishing lights to nearly 
all the business places in town as well as many of the dwellings 
and also street lights. They have also extended the line over 
to the villages of Hopkinton and Fort Jackson. 

The First Store on South Side. 

It is quite impossible to say who opened the first store in 
East Village. L. O. Wilson tells me that his father opened 
a store at a very early date in the north part of his house 
under the hill on the left-hand side going east. It was, of 
course, a small affair as were all other stores. He drew cherry 
lumber, venison, etc., to Plattsburg and exchanged them for 
goods which he brought back and sold in his store. In 1825 
or 1826 Ebenezer Hulburd of Stockholm and Zoraster Cul- 
ver opened a store there. J. Wilson Culver, his nephew, tells 
me that it stood at the foot of the hill on the right-hand side 
as you go east. Mr. Wilson and others say it stood at the 
top of the hill on the west side of the road and next northerly 
of the Chapman Hotel. Mr. Culver first settled in East 
Stockholm about 1820 and went into trade with some $3,000 
which he brought with him. At the end of three or four 
years he found himself involved and embarrassed, his capital 
and more due him from debtors who could not pay. His 
neighbor, Mr. Hulburd, notwithstanding his failure, saw that 
he had the qualities of a good business man and so advanced 
the capital and started him in trade at East Village as a part- 
ner. They were In trade there only one year when they 
bought in 1827 the house and store built by Mr. Wilson in 
18 17 on the corner just west of the village Green in Hop- 
kinton village, where Mr. Culver was so long in trade. 

A little later a Dr. Horace Branch kept a store in the 
basement of his house where the J. R. Parker house now 
stands, and also in the Culver store. This building is now 
used by J. H. Knowlton as a storehouse. 

One of the next men in trade at East Village, so far as I 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 233 

learn, was Joel Goodell, Jr., who built a store at the foot of 
the hill on the right-hand side in 1837. He conducted it for 
a few years, when he too had to quit business. In 1862 he 
went to California, returning in 1867 with a moderate fortune. 

Old Brown Shop. 

Reuben Brown and Leander Turner built a metal and 
woodworking shop on the Hopkinton shore above and close 
to the south end of the bridge. The former soon became 
sole proprietor. He was not only a good workman, but very 
ingenious and his place took and bore the name " Old Brown 
Shop " for years. He was also a famous hunter. His fa- 
vorite grovmds for hunting were about Lake Ozonia, and that 
beautiful lake in honor of Mr. Brown and his attachment to 
it was first given the name of Brown Pond. 

The Fitst Store on Lawrence Side. 

In 1829 George P. Farrar built a store on the westerly 
side of the road at the foot of the hill which was afterwards 
used as the Union Store. He died in 1836, and his widow 
married Col. Milton Heath. 

In 1 85 1 Division 301 of The New England Protective 
Union was formed at Nicholville. It was organized for a 
period of five years, with a charge or fee of $2 for a share. 
The members were to get their goods at seven per cent in 
advance, while all others had to pay eleven per cent. The 
following men took shares in it : viz., William Ellithorpe, 
Elihu D. Ayers, Mason Martindale, Russell Squire, H. H. 
Van Norman, Lewis Chandler, Lyman Page, Aaron Lee, 
Otis Farrar, Rev. Gideon S. Abbott, Dyer L. Merrill, John 
Everett, A. G. Rhoads, Addison Rhoads, Danforth Elli- 
thorpe, Ezra Martindale, John H. Henderson, William S. 
Phelps, Zina Roys, David F. Henderson, Joseph T. Canfield, 
Harry Giles, Ezra Hyde, Darius Bushnell and Hiram Wood. 
As will be noticed several of these lived in Hopkinton. Of 
these men only four are now living, to wit, John H. and David 
F. Henderson, Joseph T. Canfield and Zina Roys. 

The Union began business in the store of James Sherer, 
where Charles S. Olmstead now does business. In a few 



234 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

months after opening they suffered a pretty heavy loss by 
fire. The goods that were saved were taken across the road 
to the building of Carrie White, where they did business for 
a short time, when they bought the old Farrar store under the 
hill. In i860 they moved that building a little north for a 
storeroom and built a large store on the old site. At the end 
of the term they renewed their organization for another five 
years, and on the close of that term for an additional five 
years, when, owing to many deaths, the business was closed 
up. It was then found that the shares were worth about 
$800 each. Such a result warrants the giving of the names 
of the men who were in charge of the store, and I gladly 
give them, viz., George A. Burt and Thurman D. Ellithorpe. 

Soon after the dissolution of the old company a new Union 
Store was organized with a large number of shareholders, 
which took the old store and probably what goods there 
were left. The new store ran till 1880 or a little later, when 
it came to a sad and bitter end. The shares, instead of being 
worth something, were a burden on the holders to the extent 
of several hundred dollars each. The store was subsequently 
sold to William P. Simpson in 1885, who conducted a tin 
and hardware business for a year or so when it was burned. 
D. L. Merrill afterwards purchased the site and erected the 
blacksmith shop near the bank. In 1893 ^- S. Olmstead 
purchased the property of S. W. Merrill, executor, and built 
the large barn now standing, upon the foundation walls of the 
old store, being No. 5 in picture. 

Across the street from the " stone " gristmill is the gro- 
cery store of A. A. Weller, a son-in-law of M. S. Blanchard. 
A part of this building was erected about i 840 and was used 
for a cooper shop, and at one time hats were made here, I 
think by Ezra Martindale. In i860 or 1861 it was pur- 
chased and enlarged by Mortimer S. Blanchard, who con- 
ducted a grocery here many years and until his death. 

It was purchased by Mr. Weller some fifteen years ago. 

The Lyman Day Store. 

In 1839 Lyman Day built the store on the corner of 
Church and Prospect streets. Mr. Day had previously been 
in trade several years at Deer River, near where L. M. Drake 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 235 

now resides. His brother, Noble Day, owned the Drake farm 
at this time, building the present dwelling and keeping a pub- 
lic house there. Lyman Day was in the hotel at Nicholville 
a couple of years just prior to his building the store. He 
commenced trade in a small way, but as the country became 
more settled and better developed his business increased until 
for a number ot years his was the principal store in this place. 
Mr. Day owned an ashery a few rods down on Depot Street 
which he operated in connection with his store. Such were 
the conditions here prior to the building of the railroad that 
trade was largely of the barter or exchange kind, and the com- 
mon currency of that day was ashes and salts in the summer, 
and grain in the winter. Cattle were also used in exchange, 
and Mr. Day took several droves to Plattsburg and other 
markets. Mr. Day continued in trade until 1865, when he 
sold his store and fine home, now the P. W. Smith place, to 
Dr. Hiram D. Smith and moved to Muscatine, Iowa. Such 
had been his success that he carried away a nice property. 
The family were never quite satisfied, however, with the 
change, and two years later returned and built another fine 
home just east of the Baptist Church. Mr. Day never en- 
gaged in trade again alone, but was for some years one of 
the partners in the firm of Sumner, Sweet & Co. After 
Dr. Smith purchased the place he moved the old granary 
which stood between the store and the Carrie White build- 
ing and attached it to the rear of the store, finishing it off 
for his office and remodelling the store, fitting it up for a drug 
store. Here Ira H. Smith commenced business in 1865. In 
1876 he purchased the brick store just below the hotel, and 
this was ever afterwards his business home until his death in 
1902. After he removed from the Old Red Store, as it was 
called, his father, the doctor, fitted it up for his office as jus- 
tice of the peace, using it for that purpose until his death in 
1881. 

J. A. Martindale was in trade in it for several years and 
also kept the post office there. It is now owned by E. J. 
Sanford, who purchased it in 1902 of the Louise Smith estate. 
It is now used by H. D. Blanchard as a barber shop, and the 
back part by Mr. G. C. Randall for a dental office. It is 
No. 8 in picture. 



236 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

The Shcfar and Olmstead Store. 

The first building upon the site of this store was built by 
Daniel Munger prior to 1830. He used it for a dwelling 
house and cabinet shop. It was also used a short time as a 
schoolhouse. In 1845 James Sherar purchased the property 
and removing the building erected a store and went into the 
mercantile business. He became embarrassed, and after mak- 
ing an assignment went to California in 1849. He was ac- 
companied by Col. Roswell Hopkins, Seth Putnam of Hop- 
kinton, Henry B. Sanford of this place and possibly one or 
two others. Mr. Putnam did not live to reach the land of 
gold, dying on the way and buried at sea. They went by 
way of Cape Horn and were six months in accomplishing what 
can now be done in as many days. During the two or three 
years prior to the fall of 1851, Dr. N. D. Lawrence and E. J. 
Wilson were in trade here, as was also Sanford Eggleston for 
a short time. The store was leased to the N. E. Protective 
Union in the fall of 1851, and in it they commenced business, 
but in less than six months it was burned. They saved a few 
goods and moved then across the street into what is now the 
Carrie White building and continued their business. 

In the fall of 1852 Mr. Sherar returned and after paying 
every dollar of his indebtedness rebuilt the store and again 
went into trade, where he continued either alone or in partner- 
ship until 1874. W. S. Taggart was with him several years, 
and the firm was known as Sherar & Taggart. They did a 
very large business buying butter, eggs and other produce in 
connection with their other business. They also purchased 
the sawmill on the Hopkinton side and run it a couple of 
years. W. W. Sherar, his son, was in partnership a short 
time succeeding Mr. Taggart, the firm being James Sherar & 
Son. 

In 1866 Mr. Sherar rebuilt and enlarged his store, extend- 
ing it some fifty feet along Church Street and twenty-five feet 
along Main. In 1871 it was veneered with brick, and to-day 
is one of the most substantial blocks in the village, a monu- 
ment to the energy, industry and business integrity of James 
Sherar. In 1874, owing to failing health, he sold his stock 
and leased the store to C. S. Olmstead and J. G. Cooke, then 
young men from Boston. They continued in trade until 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 237 

1878, when the firm of Olmstead & Cooke was terminated by 
Mr. Ohnstead purchasing his partner's interest. Mr. Cooke 
went from here to Potsdam and went into the dry goods 
trade. Mr. Ohnstead has remodelled the interior of the store 
until it is very commodious and pleasant. He carries a large 
stock of merchandise and also handles lumber, shingles and 
feed. His has been a very busy and prosperous career. He 
is now serving his third term as supervisor of his adopted 
town. Mr. Sherar died in 1879. This store is No. i in 
picture. 

The Merrill Block. 

What is known as the Merrill & Fisk Block was built in 
1866 by Dyer L. Merrill and Benjamin F. Kellogg, Mr. Mer- 
rill owning the east half and Mr. Kellogg the west. 

Mr. Kellogg used the first floor for a tin shop and the 
second for living rooms, while the third floor was finished and 
arranged for a Masonic hall, for which is has since been used. 
Mr. Kellogg sold out his business and store in the block in 
1868 to Charles A. Fisk and John Lawson, young men of 
Malone. Mr. Lawson sold his interest to Mr. Fisk after a 
year or two and went to Hutchinson, Minn., where he still 
resides. Mr. Fisk still owns and conducts a tin and hardware 
business here. 

The East or D. L. Merrill Part. 

Upon the completion of the building in the fall of 1866, 
D. L. Merrill & Son (S. W. Merrill) started a furniture and 
crockery store, the first one in town. They remained in part- 
nership until January i, 1868, when D. L. Merrill sold his 
interest to L. O. Wilson and added undertaking to their busi- 
ness. 

In 1870 S. W. Merrill purchased Mr. Wilson's interest 
in all except the undertaking, and has continued to carry on 
the business until January, 1902, when he sold his stock and 
leased the store to W. W. Kendrick, who had been with him 
as salesman some six years. In 1901 Mr. Merrill made a large 
addition to the store along the east side, which makes it one of 
the finest stores in this section. Mr. Kendrick is fully main- ' 



238 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

taining its former well-earned reputation of a first-class, up-to- 
date store. It is No. 2 in picture. 

While rebuilding the store, Mr. Merrill remodelled the old 
office building just east of the block, adding large windows and 
a block roof. This he used as his private office. This build- 
ing was erected by Dr. N. D. Lawrence for an office nearly 
sixty years ago. 

The Ira H. Smith Store. 

The brick store occupied so many years by Ira H. Smith 
was built in 1872 by T. D. EUithorpe, Esq. Here he en- 
gaged in trade until he sold the store to Mr. Smith m 1876. 
Mr. EUithorpe had previously had many years' experience in 
trade as salesman and also as manager of the old Union Store. 
Mr. Smith was a marvel in his application to his drug business, 
never ceasing in his attentions. It had his whole thought, aim 
and life. His estate reached, as is reported, a round hundred 
thousand dollars, being the wealthiest man in town and prob- 
ably the wealthiest that ever lived in town. 

P. W. Smith succeeds his brother, Ira H. Smith, having 
recently purchased the stock and store of the executors. He 
has lately refitted it, adding electric lights and a steam-heating 
plant. It is No. 3, hidden by the tree. 

The EUithorpe Store. 

This store was erected by T. D. EUithorpe in 1887, and 
was in reality an addition to the hotel which he had pur- 
chased in 1885. In 1900 he sold the hotel to F. W. Fisk, 
but kept the addition, which he leases as follows : The 
street floor is used by Mr. Mclntyre as a grocery store; 
the second floor is Grange Hall, being occupied by Nichol- 
ville Grange, 797. This organization has now been running 
some seven years and has about seventy members. The third 
floor is Maccabees Hall. 

It is the first building at the left in picture, a corner of the 
veranda of the hotel only being shown. 

The Store of Sumner Sweet & Co. 

In the year 1866 Sumner Sweet and his brother-in-law, 
Russell Day, erected the store on Main Street, still known by 
the name first above given. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 



239 



They commenced trade the following spring and soon after 
took into the partnership Henry H. Sweet. Mr. Russell 
Day retired from the firm in 1876 and his place was taken by 
his brother, Lyman Day. Lyman remained a partner until 
his death in 1884. 

The firm continued in business until the death of Sumner 
Sweet in February, 1891. In 1886 the original store was re- 
modelled and enlarged to its present condition, making its in- 
terior commodious and its exterior an ornament to the town. 
Since the death of Sumner Sweet it passed into the hands of 
the junior member of the firm, Mr. Henry H. Sweet, who is 
still conducting a thriving business. It has always maintained 
the reputation of a first-class country store. Russell Day and 
Sumner Sweet had several years prior to the building of this 
store been in trade a short time in the old post ofiice or Carrie 
White building. Mr. Sweet had also kept a store at East 
Dickinson for ten years before finally coming here. It is 
No. 4 in picture of Main Street. 

The L. O. Wilson Building. 

The first building east of the Sweet store was erected in 
1868 by Russell Day and A. H. Squire, the latter having the 
upper story for photographic parlors. He was here some 
three years when Mr. Day purchased his interest, becoming 
sole owner of the building. The lower story was finished off 
for a grocery and had several proprietors, among them L. P. 
Chandler, A. H. Bronson, J. A. Simonds and L. O. Wilson. 
Mr. Day sold it to Mr. Wilson about 1873. It was later 
remodelled for a drug store, and Mr. Wilson, in company with 
Dr. H. H. Carpenter and M. S. Blanchard, went into the 
drug business. They were succeeded by L. C. Shepard, and 
he by George W. Blanchard. It is at present occupied by 
Joel Porter for a harness shop. It is No. 5. 

F. X. Murray Buildingf. 

The next building to the east on Main Street is known as 
the Murray building and was erected in 1876 by him. He 
occupied the first story for a tailor shop and the second story 
for a dwelling. Mr. Murray conducted business here until 
his death in 1891. In the spring of 1898 the property was 



240 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 



purchased by Henry B. Chandler. It is used as a dwelling 
and also by Mrs. Chandler for a millinery store. No. 6 in 
picture. 

First Hotel on Lawrence Side. 

The first hotel on that side of the river was the firm home 
of Captain James Trussell, son-in-law of Abijah Chandler, and 
stood on the north side of the Turnpike road nearly a mile 
northeast of the village, now owned by John Donovan. In 
I 830 he built a two-story hotel at the top of the hill where 
the present hotel stands. It resembled very much the Bandy 
House, now standing under the hill on the east side of the 
road. It was first kept by Mr. Blodgett and next by Jehiel 
Winslow, who built the Bandy House under the hill about 

1834. Joel Day was in charge of the hotel on the hill in 

1835, and entertained Martin Van Buren, Vice-President, 
when making a trip through northern New York. He was 
succeeded by Lyman Day in 1838, he by Philo Chandler, 
1839, 1840, and he by Isaac Jones, 1 841-1843. Mr. Jones 
and wife died in the spring of 1843 ffoii ^ very fatal epidemic 
of fever that fell upon that vicinity. There were twenty-six 
deaths in six weeks in Nicholville and near by. Benjamin 
Whitney was proprietor from i 843— 1848, and afterwards pro- 
prietor of the Whitney House at Norwood. John Hathaway 
held it from 1848— 1850. The following were in charge of it 
prior to 1857: to wit, John Roberts, John Farmer, Samuel 
and Harvey Norton, E. J. Wilson, O. T. Raymond and 
Thomas Barney. 

In 1857 William Wright purchased and enlarged it, ex- 
tending the building some eighty feet east. It was conducted 
after this by Thomas and Milton Lockwood, B. F. Kellogg 
and Q. A. W. Piper. In 1865 it was purchased by Benton 
Bickford and leased to Loyal Stevens and P. A. Munson. 
The latter soon withdrew. The house burned in July, 1866. 
Russell Day purchased the site in 1869 and built the present 
house and conducted it for seven years. Since then it has 
had the following proprietors : viz., Samuel Wells, the Messrs. 
Wheeler, father and son. Wood Brothers of Brushton, Mr. 
Stebbins. In September, 1885, it was purchased by James 
H. Knowlton, and in the following November sold to T. 
D. Ellithorpe, who at once leased it to his brother-in-law. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 



241 



T. B. Smith, who conducted it until near the time of his 
death in 1890. He was succeeded by his son, Adelbert, and 
he by H. B. Chandler, and he by H. S. Day. Mr. Fred 
W. Fisk purchased it of Mr. Ellithorpe in March, 1900, and 
still holds it. A corner of the piazza is shown in picture on 
the left. 

The Bandy House. 

The two-story frame house on the easterly side of the 
street under the hill was built by Jehiel Winslow in 1835 
and run by him as a hotel. Afterwards the proprietors in 
succession were Henry Bickford, James Sherar, the Robin- 
sons, father and son, Charles Hastings and Daniel T. Mc- 
Neil, from 1866 to 1872. It has not been used as a public 
house for many years and is now the residence of Silas 
Bandy. 

Sawmill on Lawrence Side. 

This was built about the year 1828 by Danforth Elli- 
thorpe, father of Thurman D. and Pascal. He got the site 
and water power privilege just below the old stone gristmill 
from Mr. Nicoll, the executor of William Lawrence's estate, 
for a consideration of one barleycorn. The water to run it 
was carried in a flume through the gristmill. Lyman Page 
became owner of it about 1843. He built a new and im- 
proved mill in 1852, 1853, on the site of the old one, using 
an open flume outside the gristmill. This mill had what was 
a decided advance upon the old single saw, viz., a Yankee 
gang, a double affair, slabbing logs and sawing boards at the 
same time in the same gate or gang. Some years after this 
gang was taken out and a Green Mountain circular saw put 
in with a capacity of five thousand feet per day, which was run 
till about 1890. J. H. Knowlton bought all the Page mills 
and property, and in 1893 tore down the old mill and built a 
new one of four floors on the same foundation, installing a 
new improved Lane circular sawmill with a capacity of fifteen 
thousand feet per day. In addition he also manufactures 
shingles and clapboards. 

Tanneries at East Village and Nicholville. 
The first tannery, though hardly in East Village, was on 



242 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

the brook across the road from Samuel Goodell's, an account 
of which is given among the Flopkinton tanneries. 

In about 1830 Joseph G. Whitney built a small tannery 
upwards of eighty rods down the river, where the Eagle 
Creamery, operated by Darwin E. Sanford for some years 
past, now stands. It was later enlarged and a part of it went 
into the butter factory building. Mr. Whitney sold to Ed- 
mund Baldwin and he to Carr Fortune, about 1840, who con- 
ducted it for some years. In 1853 Mr. Fortune and Edmund 
B. Ayers built a tannery on the south or Hopkinton shore, 
just below the present tannery of Mr. Griffis. They run it 
for some years and sold to Jefferson Rowell. Nothing of it 
now remains. Some years later Mr. Fortune bought and 
converted the old starch factory into a tannery, and after con- 
ducting it for a time sold it in 1877 to its present proprietor, 
R. N. Griffis. 

Post Office. 

A man by the name of Belden or Belding first built a 
house where P. W. Smith resides, and had a wheelwright 
shop. Mr. Lyman Day purchased and enlarged it about 
1840. In i860 he built the present Smith house. The main 
part was moved some fifty feet easterly to the brink of the 
hill and fitted up by Philo Chandler for a milliner shop for 
Mrs. Chandler. This place remained in the Chandler family 
until 1 901, when it was purchased by E. J. Sanford and en- 
tirely remodelled, making it two story with block roof and a 
double veranda across the front. It is one of the most orna- 
mental buildings in town and is and has been for several years 
the post office. 

Postmasters at Nicholville, with Date of Appointment. 

Clement C. Palmer, January 7, I 83 I. Erasmus D. Peck, June 14, 1854. 

George P. Farrar, October 16, 1832. Myron G. Peck, August 2, 1856. 

Dennis Stacy, March 18, 1836. Carr Fortune, July 22, 1857. 

Lyman Day, December 8, I 841. William Wright, December 15, 1859. 

Erasmus D. Peck, July 29, I 845. Mark White, April 23, I 861. 

Edson J. Wilson, July 3, 1849. Mrs. Carrie White, October 26, 1869. 

Lyman Day, April 12, 1850. James A. Martindale, June 10, I 889. 

Charles Raldo Ayers, July 28, 1853. Olin J. Fortune, February 21, 1894. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 243 

Day's Mills. 

A small hamlet some three miles above Nicholville on the 
St. Regis River and quite intimately associated with it in a 
business way deserves mention in this work. 

In 1852 a dam was built and also a gang mill upon the 
north side of the river by Alonzo Goodwin and his father. 
It did not do a very large business, and was sold to Lucius 
Allen some ten years later. George S. Wright of Hopkin- 
ton, Anson Hutchins of Dickinson and a Mr. Johnson owned 
it some thirty or more years ago. It was purchased by Har- 
vey Day about 1870, and later by A. L. Blake. Mr. Blake 
did quite an extensive business, building a potato starch fac- 
tory, also a butter tub factory and shingle mill. The starch 
factory was sold to M. R. Page about 1880, near the close of 
the starch business in this section, which did not prove a very 
prosperous investment for him. It finally was purchased in 
1887 very cheaply by Mr. Blake again and used for a clap- 
board mill. A butter factory was also built here some twelve 
years ago just above the bridge on the same side of the stream 
by S. W. Chambers and Morris Day. In June, 1897, these 
mills, together with their dwellings and barns, were all burned. 
A shingle mill now owned and run by J. H. Knowlton stands 
on the site of the old sawmill. 

On the south side of the river George Eggleston, Harvey 
Day, Russell Day and Henry C. Witters built a gang saw- 
mill in 1853. Timber was then plenty and the builders ener- 
getic and they did quite a thriving business, but the financial 
stress of 1857 hurt their business, and the property was sold to 
Lyman Day, who run it a few years, when it was repurchased 
by Harvey Day. Some fifteen years ago Mr. Day's son 
Morris purchased the mill, erected a shingle and clapboard 
mill, and is still conducting quite an extensive and thriving 
business. The product of these mills passes through Nichol- 
ville on its way to the railroad at North Lawrence, and the 
supplies that furnish the sinews and support the families con- 
nected with the work are purchased here, making it largely 
tributary to the business interests of the village. The bridge 
was built in 1 853, and a road laid out from the Port Kent Turn- 
pike to the Blanchard road on the south side. 



244 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Physicians at Nicholville. 

Dr. Horace Branch was, so far as now can be learned, the 
first physician to locate at East Village or Nicholville, which he 
did about the year 1830. His time was not wholly occupied 
with his professional work, since he run a store at first in the 
basement of his house standing on the brow of the hill (Hop- 
kinton side), where J. R. Parker now resides. That building 
was removed about 1855, and the present one erected by 
Hiram Warriner. He afterward kept his store in the front 
and lived in the back part of the building near by his former 
place, now used by J. H. Knowlton as a storehouse. He 
also did a little farming, owning the east part of the Josiah 
Smith farm from near the brook to and including the F. L. 
Day place. To him is due the credit for setting out the fine 
row of maple trees on the north side of the road from the 
Day place to the brook. He removed to Ogdensburg about 
1845, where he died some years later. 

Dr. Taylor resided for a short time in East Village about 
1 840, as remembered by J. Elenry Henderson, but his stay was 
so short that it is impossible to now learn where he lived or any 
particulars concerning him. 

Dr. Noah D. Lawrence was born in the town of Hop- 
kinton in 182a. There he experienced all the privations 
and hardships incident to that early day, but being endued 
with more than an ordinary desire for knowledge, he soon 
took the lead in school among his mates, and before reaching 
his majority decided to study medicine. 

He commenced his study with and under the direction of 
Dr. Gideon Sprague of Hopkinton, and finally entered the 
medical school at Castleton, Vt., from which he graduated 
among the first of his class. Soon after graduating he received 
an appointment as surgeon in the army in Texas. In the 
mean time, however, he went to Nicholville and commenced 
in a small way the practice of medicine. One of his first 
patients was Peleg Benham, father of Charles Benham. The 
case had been a very obstinate one, baffling the skill of several 
other physicians, but he accepted it, giving the patient most 
assiduous care, and, contrary to general expectation, the man 
got well. His success in this instance doubtless had much to 
do with his after life, as the people urgently solicited him to 





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EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 245 

remain with them, which he finally decided to do, giving up 
his army appointment. He continued to practise twelve years, 
selling his house and practice in 1856 to Dr. H. D. Smith. 
His ride was very extensive, embracing a circuit of from ten 
to fifteen miles, and the amount of work and exposure that he 
endured was amazing. He rode furiously about the country 
in a doctor's gig with head bent forward as though in deep 
study or meditation, apparently saying to those he passed, 
" Do not disturb me unless you need me." 

To the mass he seemed cold and Indifferent, but among 
his friends he was genial, social and companionable, with a 
vein of quiet humor ever abounding. As a practitioner he 
was very successful and never refused to attend a call, how- 
ever remote the possibility of remuneration, which however 
he was quite successful in securing. 

He married Maria Rockwell soon after becoming estab- 
lished in Nicholville, and built the house now owned by Dr. 
J. H. Mathews. 

Going to' Nicholville somewhat in debt for his education, 
he made in the few years he was there what was then consid- 
ered a modest fortune. He lived a few years in Potsdam, 
then a short time in Ogdensburg, when soon after the war he 
went to Council Bluffs, Iowa, where he resided till his death 
in December, 1896. For several years he was mayor of that 
city and took at all times a leading part in all public matters. 
He travelled quite extensively, having visited Europe three 
times and Egypt and the Holy Land on one occasion. Start- 
ing in life a poor boy, he was able before its close to count 
his possessions in tens of thousands, which Is but an object 
lesson of what pluck, purpose and intelligenee are able to 
accomplish. 

Dr. Hiram D. Smith, son of Ira and Hannah (Downer) 
Smith, was born at Williston, Vt., in 1818. He commenced 
the study and practice of medicine when a young man in his 
native town and met with considerable success, due, no doubt, 
largely to his natural love for the work, his sympathy for the 
sick and suffering, and his excellent qualities as a nurse. Later 
he entered the Vermont Medical College at Burlington, 
where he graduated with honor a few years previous to set- 
tling in Nicholville in 1856, when he purchased the house 
and practice of Dr. N. D. Lawrence. In 1865 he sold this 



246 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

place to Dyer L. Merrill, and purchased of Lyman Day the 
fine home now owned by his son, P. W. Smith, and also the 
old red store of Lyman Day across the road. These he re- 
tained as his home and his office till his death, February 4, 
1 88 1. On coming to town he very soon entered upon a 
large and lucrative practice, winning the confidence and esteem 
of the entire community. He was a constant student, a safe 
counsellor and a man of the noblest qualities. Before com- 
ing to town he had represented his native town in the Legis- 
lature, and after settling in town held many positions of con- 
fidence and trust. He married Louisa Walker of Williston, 
Vt., and five children came to them: viz., Ira H., who died in 
1902, quite well to do ; Philip W., who succeeded to his broth- 
er's store in Nicholville ; Addie E. ; Hiram E., a merchant at 
Massena, N. Y., and Ella. 

Dr. Ira A. Darling, some time in the sixties, moved here 
from Bangor, N. Y., and commenced the practice of medi- 
cine. He was a skilful physician and had a very good 
practice, but as there was hardly enough business for two 
doctors, he only remained about six years. The doctor was 
a good singer, and with his excellent wife they took a promi- 
nent place in the social life of the town. He returned to 
Bangor, his former home, but was called back many times 
professionally afterwards. He died at Bangor in 1891. 

Dr. Henry H. Carpenter came here from Lawrenceville 
in June, 1868, and remained until March, 1877, when he re- 
turned to Lawrenceville, which is still his home. While re- 
siding here he built up a good practice and won many warm 
friends. In June, 1875, '" company with M. S. Blanchard 
and L. O. Wilson, he entered into the drug business in the 
building now occupied by Joel Porter, and the firm was known 
as H. H. Carpenter & Co. They were succeeded a few years 
later by L. C. Sheperd. Dr. Carpenter married Mary, 
daughter of Enos Burt. 

Dr. H. J. Mathews was born in 1854 at Racquette River 
bridge, town of Massena, N. Y. From there he moved with 
his parents, Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Mathews, to Michigan, re- 
turning to St. Lawrence County in 1857, and locating in the 
town of Lawrence. The family moved to Bombay, Frank- 
lin County, in 1870. In 1874, 1875, ^''- Mathews attended 
school at Lawrenceville Academy, and in 1876 Amsterdam 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 247 

Academy, where he graduated in the classical course. About 
this time he decided to study medicine and entered the Uni- 
versity of Vermont, taking a full course and graduating in 
1879. He at once commenced the practice of medicine in 
Helena, N. Y., moving from there to Nicholville in 1881, 
where he has since actively practised his profession. In 1887 
he was united in marriage with Attie L., daughter of Mr. and 
Mrs. Lyman Day. In 1895 he purchased what had formerly 
been the Dr. N. D. Lawrence and later the Dr. Hiram D. 
Smith place in this village, which is still their home. 

Dr. William E. Fortune, son of Carr and Huldah (Olin) 
Fortune, was born in Nicholville in 1 857, attended the dis- 
trict schools, two years at the Potsdam Normal, graduated 
from the Albany Medical College, a department of Union 
University, in 1881. In 1883 he located at Nicholville, 
where he has since practised his profession. In 188a he 
married Miss Martha Traver of Rhinebeck, N. Y. A son 
was born in 1833, who died in 1891. 

Dr. Marcus N. Lown was born in the village of Sand 
Lake in 1850, and graduated at the Albany Medical College. 
In the summer of 1877 he located at Nicholville, where he 
remained till 1883, when he received an appointment as sur- 
geon for the Burden Iron Company at Burden, N. Y. He 
afterward located at Rhinebeck, N. Y. In 1878 he married 
Mary Traver ; and they have a son, Philip, born in Nichol- 
ville in 1899, and a daughter, Elizabeth, born in Findlay, 
Ohio, in 1893. 

The Hopfcinton and Lawrence Baptist Church. 

The people of this faith in the town of Hopkinton met at 
the schoolhouse in the western district which stood in the cor- 
ner across the road leading north from Caleb Wright's, Sep- 
tember 10, 1808, for the purpose of organizing a society. 
Elder Samuel Rowley, of the Baptist Association of Vermont, 
was present and acted as moderator. The following persons 
related their experience and were fellowshiped : viz., John 
Hoyt, Seth Abbott, Eli Squire, Thomas Remington, Sally 
Squire and Sally Abbott. All these lived on the " Potsdam 
road," excepting that I am unable to locate John Hoyt, who 
was a brother-in-law of Judge Sanford. On the following 



248 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

day, Sunday, Thomas Remington was baptized, and on the 
next day they met at the log house of EU Squire when Seth 
Abbott was made moderator, and John Hoyt, clerk. It was 
then voted to hold meetings on the first Saturday of each 
month. On the first day of October, 1808, Eli Squire was 
made steward of the church. Dr. Hough states that on this 
day, September 12, 1808, the sacrament was administered for 
the first time to the Congregational Church in the forenoon 
and to the Baptist Society in the afternoon, and in the same 
house, but the records, singular as it may appear, do not men- 
tion it. 

From the fifth day of November, 1808, till April i, 1809, 
meetings were held in the log house of Seth Abbott, situate a 
hundred rods or so east of the schoolhouse and down near the 
brook. On July i, 1809, meeting was held in the school- 
house. 

According to Dr. Hough, a Baptist society was duly 
formed February 17, 181 8, with Abijah Chandler, Jonah San- 
ford, Sylvanus C. Kersey and Samuel Eastman, trustees, 
though no mention of it appears in the records. Mr. Chand- 
ler lived about a mile northeast of Nicholville, and Mr. Ker- 
sey I cannot place. Probably he lived in Chesterfield also. 

On Saturday, the first day of August, 181 8, they held ser- 
vice in the " meeting-house," which was the upper room or 
story of the old stone schoolhouse in the village, a full history 
and cut of which are given in another place. However, only 
two meetings were held there at this time, they still continuing 
to use the old schoolhouse near Mr. Wright's. 

On the fourth day of March, 1820, the society appointed 
Brothers Seth Abbott and Samuel Eastman a committee to 
provide a house for public worship. On April 8, 1820, they 
met at the " Hall" as also on June i, 1822, at the "Town 
House," both meaning the upper floor of the old stone school- 
house. 

Deacon Asa Moon and Myron G. Peck made report June 
5, 1824, as to subscriptions for the support of the church, 
when it was voted to engage Elder Rhoades to preach for six 
months in the year to come at the rate of one hundred dollars 
a year, to be paid in grain in the month of January next, with 
a house and garden spot. Mr. Moon was then living on the 
Jonah Sanford, Jr., homestead, where he died October 16, 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 249 

1842. Mr. Peck lived in Chesterfield, about three-fourths of 
a mile down the river from Nicholville. 

The society met in covenant meeting in September, 1825, 
at the schoolhouse in the East Villege, which was a little later 
given the name of Nicholville. 

At a meeting held February 18, 1826, it was voted unani- 
mously to hold church meetings one-fourth part of the time at 
the Town House (old stone schoolhouse in Hopkinton) and 
the other three-fourths at the schoolhouse in the East Village, 
which stood, I feel sure, a short distance up the Northwest 
Bay road. Service was also held in the house of Elder 
Rhoades, now owned by E. D. Sanford, and in other places. 
The old stone gristmill built in 1826 was used for a time be- 
fore its interior had been completed. On February 4, 1827, 
seventeen were baptized in the river back of the mill through 
a hole cut in the ice, and in the year following seventy persons 
were baptized, as I learn from a letter by Allen Wood. Of 
the people so baptized Mrs. Nancy Chandler of Nicholville, 
Peter Cluky of Lawrenceville, Dennis Stacy, Mrs. L. Pratt, 
Mrs. R. Smith and Sophia Remington lived till recent years. 

In June, 1827, a call was extended to Elder Leach of Ver- 
mont upon a salary of three hundred dollars, which it was 
thought to be sufficient tosuppoat him at present, and in July 
of that year a team was sent to move him to town. 

At a meeting held in January, 1828, it was voted to raise 
five dollars in grain for missionary purposes. 

The earnestness and zeal of church people in those early 
times are shown by the following resolution passed August 2, 
1828: 

Resolved, That we feel it our duty to look after members of other churches 
of our faith visiting among us who do not come forward, and should those mem- 
bers still refuse to walk with the church after being invited, we feel it our duty 
to report them to the church to which they belong. 

In December, 1829, an invitation was received from the 
Congregational Society of Hopkinton to hold meetings in 
their church (built in 1827), but it was not thought best to 
accept it and the same was declined. 

The society somehow getting more members in the east 
part of the town, and especially in Lawrence, it was thought 
best to recognize that fact in the name of the society. Ac- 



250 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

cordingly, on the third day of July, 1 830, the following reso- 
lution was passed : 

Resolved, That the name of our church shall hereafter be known by the 
name of the Hopkinton and Lawrence Baptist Church. 

It was at the same time further resolved that one-half the 
preaching be at the stone house in Flopkinton and the other 
half in the east part (Nicholville), and further, " that our 
Masonic brethren be requested to abstain from meeting with 
the lodges." 

The subject of Freemasonry continued to agitate the so- 
ciety for several years, and there was a good deal of feeling 
and much dissension over it, some of the brethren refusing to 
join in communion with Masonic brothers unless they publicly 
renounced Freemasonry. This feeling against Masonry in- 
creased to that extent that on the 28th of January, 1832, the 
following drastic resolution was unanimously passed : 

Resolved, That we, as a church of Christ, never did nor never desire to 
have any fellowship with the institution of Freemasonry. 

In May, 1832, the society went a step further in the pas- 
sage of the following resolution : 

Resolved, That if any of our members practically adhere to Freemasonry, 
we will proceed against them, and if not reclaimed, withdraw our fellowship 
from them. 

On August 2, 1834, the society met at the meeting-house 
in Nicholville, and on December 8 of that year engaged 
Elder Pratt at an annual salary of $11C, and thirty-five cords 
of sled length wood, one-eighth only of his salary to be paid 
in money. 

The first house of worship built for that purpose in the 
East Village, as I learn from an article by Allen Wood, Esq., 
stood on a lot deeded to the poormasters of the town by Wil- 
liam Lawrence, Esq., the proprietor, who intended it as a gift 
for public use. The lot is situate on the south side of 
Water Street and just easterly of the present Methodist 
Episcopal parsonage. The house stood near the east line of 
the lot, and was erected in 1832 and enlarged in 1836. It 
was a low, very plain building and fifty-six feet in length. 
There was a door at either end with an aisle extending 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 251 

through the middle of the room, with pews on either side 
facing the pulpit in the centre of the room on the west side. 
Opposite the pulpit were the singers' seats, lengthwise of the 
house, rising one above the other. This house was owned 
one-half by the Baptists and a quarter each by the Metho- 
dists and Universalists, used in common by them and called 
for years the " Union Church." The Baptists built a church 
of their own in 1852, as will be shown a little later, and sold 
their half interest in the old church to the Methodists for a 
dollar. 

In 1853 the Methodists and Universalists united in 
building a new Union Church, which they did on the lot of 
the old church. Their new church was used by the two societies 
until 1876, when the Methodists built an edifice of their own 
just across the road on the northerly side of Water Street. 
The Universalist Society, becoming greatly decimated in its 
ranks about this time, abandoned any further organization. 
The Methodist Episcopal Society became sole owner of the 
old church, took off the steeple and converted it into a 
dwelling, since which time it has been used as its parsonage. 

At a meeting held August 4, 1835, the hand of fellow- 
ship was withdrawn from a sister who had been charged with 
visiting a ball chamber, and, with her associates, chanting at 
the sound of the viol, and on March 6, 1836, the clerk was 
directed to report Sister Calvin, formerly of the Hinesburgh, 
Vt., church, for having " embraced the sentiments of the 
Methodists." 

The membership of the church growing stronger all the 
time at Nicholville and vicinity, it was finally decided August 
5, 1843, to change the name of the society to that of the 
Baptist Church of Nicholville, and it was done unanimously. 

The Slavery Question. 

The feeling on this subject by quite a number of the 
members of the society had become so keen and intense that 
a resolution declaring slavery a crime and a sin was offered 
by Elder Pratt at a church meeting held October 7, 1843, 
but was laid on the table, as it repeatedly was in subsequent 
meetings. However, the subject would not down. It was 
continually coming up like " Banquo's Ghost," and had so 



252 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

many and such persistent advocates that something had to be 
done. This spirit or feeling that slavery was wrong soon 
brought on that " irrepressible conflict " which, only eighteen 
years later, burst forth in a great Civil War. To appease 
them great effort was made to so word and frame a resolution 
which the antislavery and proslavery members could accept, 
but it was a difficult task. Amended at divers times, when 
under consideration, it was finally submitted for discussion 
and action at a meeting held October ii, 1844, in the follow- 
ing words : 

Resolved, That the holding of slaves for the purpose of self-interest is a 
flagrant violation of the laws of God and the rights of man, and that as the dis- 
ciples of Christ we feel called upon to sympathize with the enslaved (especially 
those who are our brethren in the Lord), and further that we cannot conscien- 
tiously admit to our communion or to our pulpit those who are guilty of the 
above named sin, neither those who will extend their communion to them. 

A vote being taken resulted In its defeat by a vote of fif- 
teen against its adoption to ten in its favor. I regret that I 
cannot at least give the names of the latter. 

The feeling had become so tense and great, and especially 
owing to the defeat of the resolutions, that thirty-three mem- 
bers withdrew from the society October 18, 1844. Though 
they withdrew, it was with pain and sorrow, compelled to do 
so by the dictates of conscience, which they could not stifle or 
set aside. The proslavery members equally regretted their 
going, and so great effort was made to frame a resolution that 
would satisfy both sides, though gratifying neither, which re- 
sulted as follows : 

Resolved, That slavery in our opinion is a moral evil much to be regretted, 
that we are not disposed to countenance oppression, cruelty or any species of 
wickedness, and that we will not admit to our communion or pulpits those who 
are guilty of the above crimes. 

Critically read this will be found to be a rather weak reso- 
lution. However, eighteen of the thirty-three members 
came back into fellowship at once, and on March 30, 1850, 
eleven more of the seceding members were received into the 
fold. 

On October 18, 1851, a communication was received from 
Samuel Eastman stating that he had bequeathed to the soci- 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 253 

ety the sum of four hundred dollars for the purposes of sus- 
taining preaching and erecting a house of worship. 

A sabbath-school was established May 30, 1852, and the 
Methodist society invited to co-operate with them. 

The New Church. 

At a meeting held November 13, 1852, the following 
men were named as a committee to take charge of the build- 
ing of a new church, viz., Myron G. Peck, William Elli- 
thorpe. Mason Martindale, Gilbert Goodwin and Jude Clark, 
and the work of construction was pushed with such zeal that 
the house was dedicated on January 26, 1853. The first 
meeting in the new edifice was held February 5, 1853. On 
its completion an entry was directed to be made in the records 
expressing the society's gratefulness to Brother Myron G. 
Peck, to whose untiring efforts, under God, the work was com- 
pleted. The church was built by subscriptions, and its total 
cost was the sum of $2,039. It is still the house used by the 
society and stands on the southerly side of Church Street and 
some sixty rods east of the hotel. Owing to extensive re- 
pairs to the church during the pastorate of Rev. F. L. Foster, 
the house was again rededicated. A picture of the church as 
it now appears is given. 

Deacons from its Otganization. 

Asa Moon, Seth Abbott, Edmond Baldwin, Stiles Tuttle, 
Orrin Andrews, Hosea Carr, Jude Clark, HoUis E. Brow- 
nell, Hiram Denton, Sheldon P. Reynolds, James A. Martin- 
dale, Asa Wilson and Cordon H. Sheldon. 

Pastots since Organization. 

Rev. Solomon Johnson, October 30, 1819, to April 13, 1822. 

Rev. Justin Rhoades, November, 1823, to . 

Rev. Leach, June, 1827, to May 5, 1832. 

Rev. Henry Greene, May 5, 1833, to September 28, 1833. 
Rev. Silas Pratt, January I, 1834, to February 2, 1839. 
Rev. Henry Greene, June, 1839, to December, 1839. 
Rev. Silas Pratt, April i, 1840, to April 3, 1841. 
Rev. Peter Robinson, June 22, 1841, to April 2, 1842. 

Rev. Case, June 4, 1842, to August, 1842. 

Rev. Silas Pratt, August 20, 1842, to January 6, 1844. 

Rev. Peter Robinson, February 3, 1844, to October 18, 1844. 



254 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Rev. O. Scott, May, 1845, to . 

Rev. Ide, January, I 846, to . 

Rev. J. M. Beeman, April, 1849, to December 29, 1850. 
Rev. Elias Goodspeed, January 10, 1 85 I, to December 2, 1854. 
Rev. J. M. Beeman, December 31, 1854, to April 7, i860. 

Rev. Howard, May 5, i860, to January, 1861. 

Rev. Sanford Burnham, September, 1861, to September 6, 1862. 
Rev. Reuben Jones, October, 1862, to September 19, 1863. 
Rev. Corvvin Blaisdell, April, 1864, to February 2, 1867. 
Rev. A. A. Smith, April 20, 1867, to April 12, 1868. 
Rev. Charles D. Fuller, May 9, 1869, to May 7, 1870. 
Rev. G. N. Harmon, September, 1870, to February 28, 1873. 
Rev. Charles Coon, April, 1874, to April, 187;. 
Rev. Charles E. Harris, May, 1875, to December 12, 1875. 
Rev. W. D. Elwell, March, 1876, to September, 1876. 
Rev. A. K. Sutton, January, 1877, to January, 1879. 
Rev. Corwin Blaisdell, February, 1879, to January, 1882. 
Rev. Henry H. Thomas, June I, 1882, to July 27, 1884. 
Rev. C. J. Butler, August 3, 1884, to September 20, 1884. 
Rev. Corwin Blaisdell, May 10, 1885, to May 16, 1886. 

Rev. G. N. Harmon, January I, 1887, to. . 

Rev. D. T. White, September 12, 1888, to September, 1890. 
Rev. C. E. Witts, August, 1891, to February i, 1893. 
Rev. F. L. Foster, October 1, 1893, to August i, 1898. 
Rev. C. H. Ellicott, served five months. 
Rev. George Harrison, May I, 1899, still serving. 

The First Methodist Episcopal Church of Nicholville. 

As to when this society was formed or who were its char- 
ter members I have been unable to learn. 

The records of the society were lost about 1878, and 
therefore but very little can be learned or told as to its early 
history, which is to be greatly regretted. 

The first church built at Nicholville was erected in 1832, 
and stood on the south side of Water Street on a lot deeded 
to the poormaster of the town for pviblic use and stood im- 
mediately east of the present parsonage of the society. This 
building was erected, according to the best information now 
obtainable, at the joint expense of the Baptist, Methodist 
and Universalist societies. Therefore the Methodist Society 
must have been organized prior to this time. 

Among the active and influential members of the society 
at an early date, I learn from elderly people through the 
efforts of E. Allen Wood of the following: Titus S. Simonds, 
J. L. Rawson, Seymour Goodell, Rufus Alden, Mrs. Horace 




BAPTIST CHURCH AT NICHOLVILLE. 




METHODIST CHURCH, NICHOLVILLE. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 255 

Carpenter, Mrs. McNall. The Methodists had only a fourth 
interest in the first church building. They were supplied by 
itinerant and circuit ministers, who in those days had large 
charges more or less for many years. Byron Alden, son of 
Rufus, served them for the years 1838 and 1839. Andrew 
Bigelow and Royal Stetson preached for them in the forties. 
Joseph De Larm was pastor for a time in the fifties. He 
had been a chore boy in Malone, but becoming converted se- 
cured an education and became quite a noted evangelist. When 
the Baptists built their new church in 1852, they sold or gave 
their interest in the old church to the Methodists. In 1856, 
1857, the Methodists, then owning a three-fourths interest 
and the Universalists a one-quarter, built a new church just 
west of the old one, which building is now the Methodist 
parsonage. Rev. Seymour Goodell, son of Samuel, supplied 
them just before and after the building of this church, but 
Justin Alden, a younger brother of Byron Alden, was the first 
regular pastor in the new church. 

The old church of 1832 remained for many years and was 
used for select schools, singing schools, public lectures, etc. It 
was not taken down till about i860. 

In 1858 Rev. David W. Thomas became the pastor. He 
was a young man, full of zeal and a great worker. At the 
camp meeting of that year there was a great spiritual awaken- 
ing and particularly among the members of this society. They 
brought it home with them and intensified it by daily or 
nightly revival meetings for several weeks, until in the final 
accounting it was found that over a hundred had been con- 
verted and joined the church. It was a great spiritual harvest 
and has had much to do with the spiritual life of the town 
from that day to this. The heads of families then brought 
into the fold were Daniel Branch, N. J. Weston, Horton 
Martindale, J. T. Canfield, Homan H. Sheldon, Norman 
Smith, Warren Blanchard, G. Rollin Clark, Asa Wilson, 
Richard Amidon, Charles R. Wilson, John Cheney, Riley R. 
Ainsworth, James Crinklaw, A. H. and Leonard E. Irish, O. 
T. Raymond, Charles Weller, Joslah Moses, Jay Harmon 
and John Dyke. No other such awakening ever took place 
in town, not even in its early days, when the people were so 
brave and enthusiastic as to receive a baptism through the 
winter's ice. Very likely it could and would have been equalled 



256 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

then had there been as many people in town. Mr. Thomas 
was soon after appointed a missionary to India, where he spent 
some twenty-five years, returning some fifteen years ago. He 
is still living and enjoying a serene old age near Richmond, 
Va. 

The other pastors prior to 1875, so far as can now be 
gathered, were R. E. King, Gadner Gibson, A. Fredenberg 
and William Brown. 

On the third day of February, 1874, the First Methodist 
Episcopal Church of Nicholville was duly incorporated and 
trustees elected. Prior to this time the society had been a 
simple association. The trustees elected at this time were 
Harley Heading, Alonzo M. Hawkins, Benjamin D. Babcoclc, 
Erasmus J. Sanford and Almon D. Bibbins. In the year 1876 
Rev. S. Short was the pastor and proved quite an ambitious 
man. Through his efforts the Auburn Praying Band were in- 
vited to and did visit the old church during the winter of that 
year. Another great revival was produced thereby, second 
only to that of 1859. The church was densely packed at 
every session, day and night, for a long time, many attracted 
by religious fervor and others by the excellent music. The 
additions to the church membership thus secured, together 
with the fact that the old church was hardly suitable in size 
or condition for the uses of the society, led to a movement for 
the erection of a new church edifice. Accordingly on the 
twenty-second day of February, 1876, a subscription paper 
was prepared by Mr. Short. It met with such favor that on 
the twenty-second day of March following the work of con- 
struction began. The entire work of building was intrusted 
to Harley Heading, Homan H. Sheldon and Leonard 
Blanchard as a committee named for that purpose. The 
work of construction was pushed with that dispatch that in 
February, 1877, it was duly dedicated. The Rev. Samuel 
Call and I. S. Bingham conducted the services on this occa- 
sion. A bell weighing eleven hundred and seventy pounds 
was placed in the belfry at a cost of $358. The cost of the 
new church was $5,500. The society in 1891 remodelled the 
Union Church, built in 1856, 1857, into a parsonage, which 
it is still using. 

The pastors since 1877, which only can be given, are as 
follows : 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 257 

Rev. Milan R. Pierce, 1874, 1875. Rev. S. J. Greenfield, 1886, 1887. 

Rev. Samuel Short, 1875, 1 876. Rev. David L. Phelps, 1887-89. 

Rev. Harry O. Tilden, 1876, 1877. Rev. John R. Downer, 1889, 1890. 

Rev. J. Fletcher Brown, 1877-80. Rev. Reuben Sherman, 1890-93. 

Rev. David F. Pierce, 1880, 1881. Rev. Henry Hesselgravc, 1893-97. 

Rev. Albert C. Dantbrth, 1881-84. Rev. W. F. Tooke, 1 897-1902. 

Rev. M. D. Sill, 1884, 1885. Rev. C. H. Van Camp, 1902. 

Universalist Charch. 

I have been unable to find the whereabouts of the records 
of this society and therefore am unable to speak definitely 
upon many points. I learn from the minutes of the Baptist 
Society that at the time of the building of the first church in 
1832, the Baptists held a half interest in it and the Metho- 
dists and Universalists a quarter interest each. Whether the 
Universalists then had a duly organized society or ever had, 
for that matter, T am unable to say. It is morally certain that 
they then, or very soon after, had occasional and at times 
regular preaching for many years. One of the first to ofliciate 
as pastor of this flock was a man by the name of Squire, 
who resided somewhere in the vicinity. In those times the 
doctrine that all of God's children will ultimately and in the 
end be allowed to come unto God Himself in forgiveness and 
holiness was much more unpopular than it is at the present 
time. The Rev. John Simonds, father of Titus S. Simonds 
of Nicholville, was another of the pioneer ministers of this 
faith. Along in the fifties the Rev. Gideon S. Abbott of 
Hopkinton preached for several years. 

In 1856, 1857, the Methodists and Universalists united 
in building a new Union Church, which has since been re- 
modelled and is now the Methodist parsonage. Soon after 
its erection the Rev. J. H. Wagoner of Madrid, N. Y., be- 
came pastor and held the position until he was appointed 
chaplain of the io6th Regiment, N. Y. S. V. From this 
time until about 1870 the preaching was very largely by 
students from the Theological School at Canton, N. Y. At 
about that time the society was so fortunate as to secure the 
services of Dr. John S. Lee of the Canton Theological Col- 
lege. He had just returned from quite an extensive trip to 
Palestine, and was withal a very scholarly and able man. He 
would often drive to Nicholville from Canton on Saturday, 
lecture that evening in the church on the Holy Land, preach 



258 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

the next day and return to Canton on Monday. These ser- 
vices were held on every fourth Sunday, and both lectures 
and preaching were generovisly attended. He was a good 
man as well as able and beloved by all. He held the place 
as pastor in this wise for four or five years. On the termina- 
tion of his pastorate the society was again supplied by stu- 
dents from the Theological School at Canton until about the 
year 1880. 

In the year 1876 the Methodists built a new church for 
themselves, and having no further use for the old church gave 
it no heed or care. The Universalists did not feel able alone 
to keep it in repair, and so it had no care or attention for sev- 
eral years. Becoming somewhat weatherworn and dilapidated, 
the Universalists released their interest in it to the Methodists, 
who, in 1 89 1, rebuilt it into the present parsonage. 

Among the students whose first ministerial work was with 
this society I can mention J. M. Payne, J. H. Little, J. Fred 
Simmons, L. B. Fisher and G. I. Kiern. The latter has since 
been missionary to Japan, and Mr. Fisher is now a professor 
in the St. Lawrence University at Canton. 

The heads of families, who supported and interested them- 
selves in this society, so far as I learn, were Simeon Bushnell, 
Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Smith, Joseph B. Durfey, Samuel and 
J. M. Simonds, Samuel Sanford, John, James, Luther and 
Noble Ferris, Frederick Brewster, Harry Chandler, Silas 
Wood, John S. Roberts, Daniel Harris, William S. Phelps, 
Elihu D. Ayers, Danforth Ellithorpe, Dyer L. Merrill, 

Hyde, Hiram Wood, Harvey Brown and doubtless 

many others whose names are not now recalled. 

The society, not long after the building of the Methodist 
Church, being too poor to support and maintain a church 
building alone, conveyed their interest in the old church as 
before stated to the Methodists and thereupon ceased to fur- 
ther hold services. 

Lodges and Societies. 

The Elk Lodge, No. 577, of True and Accepted Masons 
convened March 11, 1856, under a dispensation from the 
Grand Lodge in the village of Flopkinton and elected the fol- 
lowing officers to apply for a charter: viz., H. M. Sprague, 
W. M., Lucius Lockwood, S. W., John A. Harran, J. W., 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 259 

James A. Sheldon, Tr., William S. Taggart, Sec, J. H. Wins- 
low, S. D., Charles Vincent, J. D., R. S. Beede, Tyler. Of 
these men only James A. Sheldon and Rollin S. Beede are 
now living. On July 8, 1865, a charter was obtained, when 
many men joined the Lodge, becoming charter members. On 
March 14, 1866, the meetings of the Lodge began being held 
in the Hilliard shop on the south side of the river at Nichol- 
ville, and on July 16, 1867, it took up quarters in the Merrill 
and Kellogg Block, where it has since been most comfortably 
located. 

The past Masters of the Lodge have been, to wit, Henry 
M. Sprague, Lucius Lockwood, Henry H. Sweet, A. D. Bib- 
bins, C. A. Fiske, Henry Hoyt, F. X. Murray, W. P. 
Simpson, C. H. Babcock, W. E. Fortune, C. P. Hyde, W. 
S. Thomas, Levi Ward, R. S. Chambers, S. J. Sanford and 
Herbert E. Downing. 

Elk Chapter, No. 197, of R. A. M. is an outgrowth of 
Deer River Chapter at Lawrenceville, which had become ex- 
tinct. The Chapter resuined labor at Masonic Hall, Nichol- 
ville, April 16, 1882, with barely enough members to open a 
Chapter. It has steadily grown since and now numbers fifty- 
three members, with R. S. Chambers, High Priest. The men 
holding this position in the past now living are Henry H. 
Sweet, Lester C. Shepard and Dr. W. E. Fortune. 

Eastern Star. 

This society was formed January 3, 1866, when twenty 
wives and sisters of M. N. took the degree, but no meetings 
were afterward held. On June 14, 1902, a Chapter was or- 
ganized in Elk Lodge and worked under a dispensation until 
October 14, 1902, when a charter, No. 259, was obtained. It 
now has a membership of thirty-two. The officers are Ber- 
tha Sanford, W. M., Silas W. Merrill, W. P., Maude L. 
Merrill, A. M., Blanche L. Fisk, Sec. 

Nicholville Grange. 

Nicholville Grange, 797, was organized November 25, 1895, 
at the home of Almon D. Bibbins. Thirty-one charter mem- 
bers were enrolled and Hiram D. Foster made Worthy 
Master. 

The society now has a membership of seventy and is in a 
flourishing condition. During the past year some fifteen new 



26o EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

members joined the association. Those who have served as 
Worthy Master since its organization are, viz., Hiram D. 
Foster, A. A. Hawkins, D. J. Maher, P. B. EUithorpe, B. 
G. Reed and T. D. EUithorpe, recently elected for 1903. 

Knigfhts of Maccabees, Tent No. 620. 

Knights of Maccabees, Tent No. 620, was organized Sep- 
tember I, 1899, with a membership of twenty. A. A. Hawkins 
was elected Commander, and F. W. Bibbins, Record Keeper 
in 1900, R. S. Chambers, Com., and A. A. Hawkins, R. K. 
in 1 901, W. A. Ballard, Com., and A. A. Hawkins, R. K. 
and in 1902 W. A. Ballard, Com., and E. E. Bandy, R. K. 
The society now has a membership of nearly seventy and is 
having a healthy and steady growth. They meet every 
Wednesday evening at their hall in the EUithorpe Block. 

Camp of Modern Woodmen of America, No. J 0,854. 

This society was organized August 13, 1902, and has a 
membership of twenty. Its officers are George C. Munson, 
V. C. ; Dallas Chaney, W. A. ; S. J. Sanford, Banker ; D. J. 
Fortune, Clerk; B. W. Wood, Escort ; Dr. H. J. Matthews, 
Physician. They use the hall of the Maccabees. 

Sanford Post, 473, G. A. R. 

Sanford Post, 473, G. A. R., was organized in Masonic 
Hall, Nicholville, April 2, 1884, with seventeen charter mem- 
bers as follows : Wm. P. Simpson, Philo A. Munson, Eras- 
mus J. Sanford, Edwin D. Sanford, Darwin E. Sanford, 
James F. Breckenridge, Webster D. Day, Wm. W. Lunn, 
Wm. H. Harvey, John Dyke, A. C. Danforth, Chandler 
Paine, Mark R. Page, Smith S. Thomas, Azro L. Blake, 
Andrew O. Sullivan and James A. Martindale. The follow- 
ing officers were duly installed by Commander George W. 
Dustin of F. F. Wead Post, Brushton : viz., Wm. P. Simp- 
son, Com. ; Darwin E. Sanford, S. V. C. ; Mark R. Page, 
J. V. C. : James A. Martindale, Adjt. ; Erasmus J. Sanford, 
Quart.; A. C. Danforth, Chap.; Azro L. Blake, O. D. ; 
P. A. Munson, O. G. ; A. O. SuUivan, Q, M. S. ; William 
Lunn, S. M. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 261 

The Post took its name out of respect to the memory of 
Colonel Jonah Sanford of Hopkinton, who raised the 92nd 
Regiment when over seventy years of age, and of his son 
Lieutenant Henry B., and his four sons Captain Henry T., 
Erasmus J., Edwin D. and Darwin E. Sanford, three genera- 
tions, all of whom entered the service to save the Union. 

A life-size portrait of Colonel Sanford was presented to 
the Post by Jonah Sanford, Jr., with remarks by his son 
Carlton E., July 4, 1884. 

The Post claims the honor of having in its membership 
the youngest soldier who went forth to do battle, viz., Wil- 
liam Bastin, who was only a few days over eleven years when 
he joined the service. 

The Post has on its rolls the names of seventy members, 
but only twenty-two now remain. Twenty-three have moved 
away and been granted transfers, seven have been dropped 
or suspended, and eighteen have died since the organization. 

In a few more years all the old soldiers will have been 
called home and there will be no one to tell of that mighty 
struggle to save the Union and make liberty the corner stone 
of this free Republic. 

The W. C T. U. 

The Jubilee Singers came to Nicholville and gave an en- 
tertainment in August, 1895. When they had concluded 
their programme they called for volunteers to pass through 
the audience and learn how many and who would join such an 
organization. Miss Jennie Sanford and Mrs. Foster did so, 
and obtained the names of only eight persons. The next 
week Mrs. Russell of Massena, county organizer, came and 
organized the society with only eight charter members. Miss 
Sarah Travis was made president, but resigned at the next 
meeting, when Mrs. Mary Day was elected and held the 
position for two years. Mrs. Henry H. Sweet next held 
the position for four years, when Mrs. Pascal B. Ellithorpe 
was elected, which office she still holds. The society is now in 
a prosperous condition and has a membership of nearly fifty. 

Mound Hill Cemetery. 

Mound Hill Cemetery is situated upon and takes its name 
from a high mound or eminence just east of and overlooking 



262 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

the village. The grounds for the first cemetery were donated 
for that purpose by William Lawrence, the proprietor of the 
town, though they were not actually conveyed till October 
26, 1 841, and then by D. Lynch Lawrence to the supervisor 
of the town. The title remained in the supervisor till No- 
vember 24, 1862, when William Fortune, then holding that 
office, conveyed the same to the association perfected Novem- 
ber 10, 1862. The view from the top of the mound is grand, 
overlooking, as it does, to the north the beautiful valley of the 
St. Lawrence, while to the south are seen the forests and peaks 
of the Adirondacks, to the southwest and close by the deep 
valley and high bluffs of the St. Regis and to the west a pano- 
rama of the village and Hopkinton, made beautiful in sum- 
mer time by its wealth of trees and foliage. 

It is an ideal place for a cemetery, being high and free 
from moisture, with a constantly growing shade of evergreens 
and other trees. 

The first burials here were in the year 1833, when two 
were made on the same day, namely, the wives of Lyman 
Day and Joseph Stearns. Previous to this time the cemetery 
in Hopkinton was the nearest public ground, and some were 
taken there for burial, while many others were buried in private 
grounds near their homes. Several were thus buried just 
south of the residence of Hiram Rose and also just north of 
E. A. Wood's, on the place now owned by Mrs. Trussell. 
These bodies were afterward removed to this cemetery. 
About the year i860 the bank wall was built along the Port 
Kent road and the southerly half of the grounds graded and 
put in form for use. At this time an effort was made to 
better preserve the records of the lots and burials, and as a 
result the Mound Hill Cemetery Association was formed No- 
vember 10, 1862. Every lot owner is a member, and they 
are represented by nine trustees. The first trustees of the 
association were as follows: Benjamin F. Hilliard, Richard 
Amidon and Warren Day for one year ; George Everett, 
Hosea Carr and Lyman Day for two years ; Russell Day, 
Royal Smith and Titus Simonds for three years. 

The first officers were, Royal Smith, president ; Titus 
Simonds, vice-president ; Lyman Day, secretary ; and Hosea 
Carr, treasurer. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 263 

A map of the grounds showing every lot was made, also 
a record of each lot duly recorded in a book for that purpose. 
All the graves were located and marked with the age and date 
of death of each burial. This was largely the work of Royal 
Smith, assisted by others, and had it not been done it would 
now be impossible to find or locate many of the graves. The 
people of Nicholville and vicinity should be and are grateful 
to Mr. Smith and his memory for all his labors in connec- 
tion with the association, its records and grounds. He was a 
fine man, beloved by all and sleeps in the grounds he did so 
much to beautify and adorn. Out of regard for him and his 
kindly labors his picture is given. 

The following persons have served as president of the 
association since its foundation : viz.. Royal Smith, Titus 
Simonds, Mark White, John W. Witters, Hosea Carr, A. H. 
Irish, Sumner Sweet, and since 1892, E. Allen Wood. 

In 1893 an addition was purchased fifty feet wide extend- 
ing along the north side of the grounds. This was laid out 
into a good driveway and a tier of some twenty burial lots. 
A row of shade trees has been set out on either side of the 
driveway. 

In 1896 an addition of some four acres on the east was 
purchased, making in all about eight acres in the cemetery. 
There are now nearly eight hundred people resting in the 
grounds. A very good picture of the main entrance is given. 

In the preparation of the foregoing history of Nicholville, 
I have been greatly aided and assisted by Mrs. N. Maria 
Wilkins of Stowe, Vt., and particularly by E. Allen Wood, 
Esq., of Nicholville. A great part of the information given 
as to mills, shops, hotels, stores, etc., was gathered from the 
scrapbooks of writings in the past by the latter and by his dili- 
gent interviews with elderly people. Several of those articles 
are also practically as prepared by him. I wish also to ex- 
press my acknowledgments to Miss Maud Merrill for pictures 
of the churches and to Cordon Babcock for pictures of the 
valley and Main Street. 



CHAPTER XIV. 
The Diary of Elisha Risdon — Sketch of him and his Diary. 

I LEARN from an unfinished letter to his father that the 
entire family went from Dorset, Vt., to the " Genesee coun- 
try " in or just prior to the year 1800. His father with his 
large family settled at Richmond Centre, Ontario County, 
where he did a blacksmith business for many years and died 
at Livonia, a few miles distant, March i, 1848. The son 
Elisha went back to Dorset for the expressed purpose of 
further attending school. He did so at the Dorset Academy, 
and was a chum of Edward Gray, father of Edward B. Gray 
of Potsdam, now over eighty-four years of age. Mr. Gray 
settled in Potsdam in 1822, where they exchanged visits. 

Meeting a gentleman, name not given, in January, 1804, 
who was interested in what is now Hopkinton, he was pre- 
vailed upon to come along with him with the assurance of 
high wages, which he did, reaching town in the early days of 
February, and this is how he came to settle in Hopkinton. 
After coming to town he worked more or less for Mr. Hop- 
kins till the summer of 1807, when he visited his father and 
remained two years, returning to Hopkinton in September, 
1809. 

The diary kept by him, or rather such part of it as can 
now be found, begins with February 14, 18 12, and extends 
to July, 1820, excepting that the years 181 6, 181 7, 1818 and 
some other lesser portions of time are missing. The record 
from 1820 to December, 1832, appears to be lost beyond re- 
covery. From the last date to September, 1848, it was kept 
in two small books, six by eight inches. The diary was 
divided among his three children, E. Harmon, Mary Chit- 
tenden and Clarinda Sanford. Harmon Risdon moved to 
Iowa in 1870, and Mrs. Chittenden changed her location sev- 
eral times, and it is believed that the missing portions were 
thus lost, which is to be regretted, as it would give us nearly 
a half century of almost daily records. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 265 

From August 11, 1 8 1 1 , when he married Amanda, daugh- 
ter of Reuben Post, he Hved in a log house on the south 
side of the Potsdam road about a mile west of Hopkinton 
village till 1824 or 1825, when he bought his brother-in-law's, 
Samuel B. Abbott's betterments and moved into his log 
house situate on the south side of the Turnpike road just a 
few rods east of the junction of the Sanford road with the 
Turnpike, where he resided till his death, October 19, 1851. 
In about 1830 he built a small frame house there, to which 
later several additions were made. No trace of either 
habitation remains, except a small hole in the ground and a 
mound of stone showing where the fireplace chimney stood. 
Fortunately for the record in part, Artemus Kent, Esq., who 
came into town in 1809, kept a fairly full diary from 1810 
till I 8 19. 

His son Fred H. Kent, Esq., of Detroit, Mich., kindly 
loans me this record to use as freely as I wish. I have inter- 
jected into Mr. Risdon's diary in several places extracts 
from that of Mr. Kent on important incidents, inclosing the 
same, with the name Kent, In brackets. For the years 18 16, 
1 8 17 and 1818 there is no diary except that of Mr. Kent. 

All work done by myself in editing the diary is inclosed 
in brackets, with the abbreviation " Ed." 

The Year 18(2— Death of Mrs. Seth Abbott and Infant Babe — Captain Ros- 
well Hopkins calls out his Militia Company to Draft Soldiers — Attends 
Court at Ogdensburg — People alarmed over War — Aaron Warner raises 
Barn and Oliver Sheldon a House — Get Thirty-two Guns from the Arse- 
nal at Russell to defend themselves against the Indians ■ — Inventory of his 
Property — Mr. Risdon and Thirteen Others drafted — Went to Hamilton 
(Waddington) — Route taken. 

February 14. David Covey and Joseph Durfey cut wood at my door from 
the 14th to the 19th. Severe cold weather. 

February 20. Very snowy day. Still very cold. Caleb Wright [father 
of George S. Wright] assisted me. 

March 17. Departed this life the wife of Mr. Seth Abbott, March 17 ; 
was buried with her infant in her arms, which died a few hours previous to her 
death. 

March 29. The snow fell about ten inches. The snow is about three 
feet deep. 

March 3 I . Warm and pleasant. Mr. Kent is thrashing his wheat. 

April 8. The snow is two feet deep. Began to boil sap. Received a 
letter from my parents April 5. 



266 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

April 15. The ground is to be seen in some fields. The snow is about 
fifteen inches in the woods. Made thirty-five pounds of sugar, twelve gallons of 
vinegar. 

April 20. Warm showers. The snow melts fast. 

April 22. The snow is pretty much gone in the cleared fields. 

May 3. A light snow, cold air, vegetation comes on but slowly. 

May 9. Went to Cookham surveying, warm and pleasant. 

May I I . Went to Cookham surveying highway, pleasant. 

May 13. Captain Hopkins called out his company to draft soldiers. Beebe 
Abbott, Abner Pain and Mr. Curtis volunteered. 

May 25. Warm weather, vegetation now comes forward. 

May 27. Captain Hopkins called out his company to draft soldiers. Mr. 
Booth, Silas Lamb, L. Curtis, Doct. Palmer volunteered. 

May 28. Warm, growing season. The fields and forests look green. 

May 30. Began to plant corn. There have but a few planted any yet. 

June I . Captain Hopkins called out his company to improve in the mili- 
tary disciphne. 

June 4. Was summoned to appear at the courthouse at Ogdensburg forth- 
with, there to testify to what I know concerning Mr. Durfey's whipping a 
child. Borrowed one dollar and fifty-five cents of Artemus Kent to defray the 
expense of the journey. Mr. Green, the constable, Mr. Durfey, Mr. Abbott, 
Mr. Squire and myself set out on the 5th. [I am advised that this was Phineas 
Durfey, that he had traps set in the woods back of Caleb Wright's, that he told 
a boy living with him to go and see if any animal was in the traps. The boy 
started, but being afraid to go to the traps, returned and reported that there was 
none. Some days later it was learned there was a wolf in the trap which had 
gotten away or died and decayed. Mr. Durfey whipped him for lying to him. 
— Ed.] 

June 16. Work on the highway. Afterwards shot a deer. 
, June 19. Received a letter from my brother, Elijah Risdon. 

June 25. Aaron Warner raised his barn. Oliver Sheldon raised his house. 
[I feel sure this is the barn still standing back in the lot and the house, a cut of 
which is given in another place. — Ed.] 

June 27. I. W. Hopkins raised a barn frame. 

June 29. Phineas Durfey raised his barn. The people of this country 
are much alarmed about war. 

July 4. Green, Sanford and Post moved to Vermont. [I feel sure these 
men were Job Greene, Jonah Sanford and Reuben Post. Job Greene was an 
elector in town in 1807. In a very brief sketch of his life Mr. Sanford states 
that he came to Hopkinton in the fall of 1 8 1 1 and made a little beginning in the 
wilderness but did not settle till 1815. He must have come back in 1812, and 
on account of the war gone back again. — Ed.] 

July 12. Samuel Eastman raised his barn, very warm. 

July I 6. Thirty-two guns have been brought from the arsenal in Russell 
to this town to defend ourselves against the Indians. [This arsenal is still 
standing.] 

July 27. Warm, showery weather, not much haying as yet. I killed a 
deer this day near my work. 

July 28. Borrowed Mr. Eli Squire's rifie and went to Cookham. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 267 

August 6. Showery weather. There has been but a little done at haying 
this season on account of wet weather. I have been married a year. I 
have five acres of wheat on the ground, one-half is Mr. Kent's. I cut two tons 
of grass. I have but one cow, two hogs, a few poultry. All my farming 
tools are a set of drag teeth, two axes and a hoe. I have a hundred and fifteen 
acres of land paid for and a deed of it. I have a bond for a deed of twenty 
more which has a decent log house on it and some improvements. [There were 
thirty acres in the strip on the east side of his one hundred and fifteen acres which 
Reuben Post got of Joseph Armstrong in 1808. The log house in which he 
lived was on this strip. The ruins of chimney may still be seen. — Ed.] 

August II. It has rained this day very steady. Esq. Post set out for 
Vermont on the loth. The 13th of this month drove home a heifer bought of 
Lane. Very wet. Some people have half done haying, others not. 

August 15. Troublesome times in America. Not so much to be dreaded 
is a war with foreign powers as a political disunion internal. Already have party 
contentions worked into mobs and bloodshed. 

August 20. Bought a rifle of Mr. Woodworth for twenty-one dollars. 

August 24. Began reap wheat, finished the 2 8h. The inhabitants have 
mostly finished haying. A white frost the 30th. 

September 2. Went to Mr. Hawkins with my rifle. David Parish is out 
in this country. 

September 10. Captain Hopkins called out his company to stand their 
draft for fourteen privates. Myself with thirteen others were drafted and 
warned to appear at Hamilton forthwith. [Waddington was called Hamilton 
till 1818. — Ed.] 

September i I . Set out for Hamilton and about dusk gave up ourselves to an 
officer who gave us our rations of pork and beans and directed us to our barrack. 
The next day about one hundred and twenty-one including the boatmen went 
on board a boat for Massena. [One leaf of the diary is here missing, which is 
greatly regretted as an account of his soldier's life would be interesting. It both- 
ered me at first to make out just the route he took. On a little reflection it be- 
came plain to me that he went direct to French Mills (Fort Covington), a dis- 
tance of only twenty-eight miles. There was no other place they could reach 
in one day's march where there were barracks. Their destination was Wadding- 
ton. The boats of those days could not go up the St. Lawrence, as there were 
no canals about the rapids, but they could get up the Grasse River to Massena 
and then march overland to Waddington, about fifteen miles. I feel certain that 
this is the route they took. Flat bottomed boats were used on the Racket at an 
early date below Raymondville and on the St. Regis from Hogansburg to Land- 
ing Bridge, but not so early as this date. W. H. Stevens, Esq., of Brasher 
Falls, informs me that boating on the latter river did not begin till 1830. — Ed.] 

The Year 18 13 — Death of Henry McLaughlin, Misses Dunton, McLaoohlin and 
Thomas — The Village of Ogdensburg taken by the British — Report of 
same Written by Cyrus Grannis — Colonel Pike's Regiment and Chandler'3 
Brigade pass through Town — Mr. Risdon thinks of Going West and Moral- 
izes over it — Harmon Risdon Baptized — Wilkinson Defeated at Cornwall 
• — Four Hundred Dragoons in Town — Soldiers continually Passing. 

January 27. Miss Dunton died the 27 th of January, aged thirty-one years. 



268 I'.AKIA' IIIS'I'ORY Ol' 1 lOI'KIN'l'ON. 

l'"cl)niiii'y 1 . I''.;u|. Mel ,iiii)',liliii ilicd rlic ytli ol I'cbniiiry, iigcti fifty-t'our yeiirs. 

I'Vhniiiry i.|.. Miss Mi I .iiin;l\liii ilicil tlic i,|tli ot l'"cliniury, ii(;eil ,(.8. 
Miss 'I'lionms ilial llic iKlli iiC I'Vliniai y, iii;al . 

I'Vluiiniy Z2. 'I'lic village of Ojjilc-iishiirj; pivcn up to tlic Itiidsli. |II. 
K. ridopoiit, I'.Hi]., ol lliDiiklyn, N. Y., semis \\\c an original Icllci-, giviiii; an 
aicoiinl of tlic laptiMc ol tlic village, ivliich is of conaiilcialilc interest. It is 
written on liiolseap, loKlcii in to make an envelope of itself, with postage marked 
twenty cents. It is aiUlrcssctl to llc/,ckiali ii. Picrepont, New York, ami is as 
follows. 

Riissiii.i., I'elirn.iry z(i, i8i]. 

/Jif/;r Sir: Since my arrival here 1 liavc niaile some iiupiiry about the 
cost of IniiUling a barn. I liiul I can biiihl one for some less or not much ilider- 
cncc from jjtzoo. A Mr. l.eonanl who has taken some lam! there oilers to build 
lor nic il he can have jf(8o in cash, Jftjo the (irst of April and the remaining jtifo 
when the work is com]>lcted. The reniairuler he will let go towartl the laiul he 
has taken up. 1 1' you have any objeclion (o my niakiii); a barjjain ol lliis kind 
viHi will have the goodness to inlorni me. 

I must inform you that C^gden.sbnrg is taken by the British, though 1 presume 
you will hear the news before you receive this. The British have for some time 
past been in the habit of marching their men on the ice on the St. I .awrence in the 
morning. On Moiulay morning last (hey m.irilKHl on as usual, as was siipposcil, 
inilil they got one-thinl across when they ilividcd into three parts and came into 
the village before one-half of our troops were under arms or at least before thoy 
were ready to receive them. In one hour they liad full possession of the place 
with the loss on our part of six or seven men killed and some wounded. The 
loss on the part of the enemy is not known. They took i z cannon, about 8oo 
slaiul of small arms, all the ammunition and provisions, burned the barracks and 
two small vessels, plundered some luniscs and look a number ol prisoners. How 
many it is not known. All the reniaining Iroojis xvhicli were not killed or taken 
prisoners were sent to Sackctt's Harbor, and Ogdensbnrg is lelt without a man to 
protect it except the inhabitants who lied in the time of action, but have since re- 
turned and calculate to go on with their business as usual. I think the inhab- 
itants ilo not apprehend anv danger from the enemy. The above I believe is a 
true statement of (he iransactiim or as near as I can recollect. Yon will have 
ilic goodness lo aicept this Ironi N-oiir verv humble servant, 

C'vRiis (Irannis. 

N. II. h'.xcuse this writing if yon please as the paper is b.id and I can 
get no other. — h.ii. 

March 8 and i;. The i i;tli Regiment of soldiers passed llirough this town. 
Three regiments and luie brigade have passed through this town this month of 
March on their way to Saikelt's Harbor. |^ln the spring of 1813 there passed 
through this town Colonel Pike's regiment and soon after Clianiller's brigade in 
sleighs for Sackctt's Harbor, where they joined (leneral Dearborn's forces and 
soon after |iroceeded up the lake (Ontario") and captured l.iltle York and then 
l''ort Cleorge. In the fall they left Canada with live tlunisaiul men and sailed 
ilown the lake and the river St. Lawrence lo Cornwall, Canada, or near there, 
where they were opposed by the Canadians. They at once retired to French 
Mills ( l'"ort Covington") and took up winter iiuarters. In ihe last of the winter 
ihcv binned their boats, b.irr.icks .iiul ilcslroved miuli other v.iluable property. 



KARI.Y IILS'I'ORY Ol'' I lOl'K I N r( )N. 269 

part of the soldiers going lo I'liiUsbiiii; unci pnrt to Siukcit's lliirhor. The sol- 
diers left two hundred and eighty-seven liin-rels of (loin- in a barn in this town, 
which the Hiilish shortly afterwards seized with nnich other |Mciperiy in Malone 
and I'Veiuh Mills. — KtiNT. I 

I'l'ho colonel »]X)kcn of was Zchnlon M. i'ilie of the IJjiileil Slates ainiy. 
He discovered I'ike's Peak, and in 1813 was assigned to the main army as adju- 
tant and inspector general. He was killetl by the explosion of a magazine in a 
captmeil Ibrtification. — i'.n. | 

April 1;. Mrs. Risdon inis the measles. 

April 10. I'Voin the ijth to the loth warm, pleasant. The mind of man 
iijipears so wavering and unsteady, so often attracted li'oni one object to another, 
often deluded, cheateil by appearance of objects that iid'ord neither |>leasure (ir 
profit, that at last man's judgment ajipears not at all times to be relieil on. I 
here make the following entry by way of experiment, to wit : 

My mind has olten in fancy led me to .seek happiness by selling my 111 tie 
farm here in liopkinlon and moving to some part of the western country. Hul 
judgment tells me no, that (lod has given to all parts of the world their advan- 
tages and their disadvantages. My wife whom I love and her relation say not. 
They are contented here. I have previous to this in the absence of con- 
sidered this matter in all its diversities. It appears to be my candid and serious 
opinion on all accounts to content myself to live in Kojikinton. And may the 
great and gooil (lOil who made us aiul j;ave us all our passions, strenj;lhen ua in 
jtulgmenl. May we be more stable, firm in all our helpful undertakings. I lere 
J would notice the evils that attend coiUracling debts hastily, without preconsidera- 
tion, buying that that we do not want. Weigh the matter well before you con- 
sent to give your word or note. When cither arc given be careful to fulfil to 
the uttermost. By so doing you may get credit when it would honestly enhance 
your interest. Never be templed to expose an honorable character fijr the sake 
of gain. Be ]ilain, open, manly and honest in all your intercourse with man- 
kind. Solomon says a good name is better than g(jld or silver. Be faithful and 
constant in some emjiloyment, being careful and saving, and let nothing waste 
through your neglect, is the fiilfilment of one great duty, and being constant in 
some employ is health to the body and mind. 1 would govern my conversation 
in public and in my family with prudeni rare. I would say nothing passionate, 
slanderous or imprudenl. I would exu:nil my love to (Jod and all mankind and 
improve every o|iporlunity of doing and getting good. 

May 17. Harmon Covey died, aged nine months. 

SepteiTibcr iz. I would renounce my intention of ch(jpping any more till 
1 log anti clear ofl' what 1 have already choppeil. ]'",lijah llainion Risdon was 
baptized September iz, 18 13, by the Rev. Mr. Johnson. 

Falls hunt September 30, shot a deer. October z, shot two deer. Oc- 
tober 4, sliot a deer. October 5, shot a deer. October 6, shot a deer on my 
own land. October Z9, woundeil a deer. October 30, found mv wounded 
deer. November 3, shot four deer. November /).,■ brought them lo ilie road ; 
the Jtli, got them in. November 11, shot two deer; 13th, got them houKr. 

November 11. The bailie at Cornwall between Wilkinson and British. 
The former defeated and pushed his army lo I'Vench Mills [now Fort Coving- 
ton] , there tlischarged his volunteers to take Canada. 



270 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

November 14. The Dragoons are in this town, about four hundred. 
Soldiers passing continually from the Mills. Many of the eighteen months 
men's time are out, who are on their way home. 

December. Wilkinson's main army at the French Mills. Wheat four 
dollars per bushel ; corn, two. Sleighs begin to pass from Utica with supplies 
for the army. Sleighing good and much travel. 

The Year J8I4 — A Hundred Sleighs of Soldiers and Provisions pass in a Day — 
Very Cold — Many Freeze their Feet and some Freeze to Death — Town 
full of Soldiers — Wilkinson's Army going from French Mills to Sacfc- 
ett's Harbor — British make a Raid on Hopfcinton Village and Capture 
near Three Hundred Barrels of Flour — Dr. Sprague sells Ride to Dr. Mott 

— The People rebel in a Public Meeting — Laughlin raises his House — Mr. 
Hopkins drives Cattle to the British — Cold and Stormy in May — Mr. Ris- 
don very poorly, given up by Doctor — Death of Heman Gray, October 31 

— (See Abijah Chandler Family.) 

January. Some days one hundred sleighs pass, chiefly on their way from 
the westward to the Mills with provisions for the army. A company of four 
hundred soldiers pass on their way to Wilkinson's army. Severe cold, many 
freeze to death, some their feet only. [In the winter of I 8 1 4 Thaddeus Laugh- 
lin went to Vermont to buy materials for building a house, he returned with 
Sister Waity who lived here a year. — Kent.] 

February. Wilkinson's army is leaving the French Mills on its way to 
Sackett's Harbor. This town is full of soldiers. Money plenty, hay thirty 
dollars per ton. The British march their army into Malone, come to Hopkinton 
and take a quantity of flour belonging to the army. 

fit is a little singular that he did not give fviller particulars of this quite im- 
portant event. I judge he must have been sick as, will be noticed, no dates are 
given for February, March or April. The particulars of this raid as given by 
Dr. Hough, and as I learn them from Joseph B. Durfey, born in town in 181 I, 
and Norton F. Thomas, born in the village in 1818, are as follows: The 
story of the raid was often repeated by their parents and neighbors in their boy- 
hood days so that all essential points are still clear to them. Mr. Thomas's father, 
Chauncey D., then had a blacksmith shop just north of V. A. Chittenden's 
residence. It took place in the latter part of February, I 8 14. The British, 
then being in possession at French Mills learned through a spy that there was a 
large quantity of flour belonging to the United States government stored in Hop- 
kinton village, only twenty-eight miles distant, with no guard to protect it. They 
sent Major De Heirne of the British army with Lieut. Charlton and about thirty 
soldiers to capture it. They came in six sleighs by way of Moira Corners in 
the night time, reaching Hopkinton village before the inhabitants were up. 
Coming from the east they passed by Joel Goodell's log house of two rooms, 
situate a few rods west of the present brick residence. He was up, or at least 
awakened by the soldiers as they went by. Realizing the situation he ran across 
the road to Mr. James Thomas's house (Henderson place) and told Mike Ar- 
quette who was stopping there what he had seen. Mr. Arquette had but re- 
cently deserted from the British army and fearing they might pick him up hastily 
put on his snowshoes and went back into the woods where he remained till the 
soldiers had gone. Messrs. Goodell and Arquette both told this incident to John 
Leach, Esq., who now gives it to me. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 271 

Reaching the village the officers posted a guard at every house and proceeded 
to search for guns, according to Hough's history, but as Mr. Thomas says for 
horses and heavy blankets as well. In those days the people had a heavy blanket 
which was called an Indian blanket and just the thing for soldiers. Mr. Thomas 
heard quite a racket early in the morning, and going out cautiously to investigate, 
.saw that the village was in the possession of the British. He went back, and 
fearing they might take his horse, he buried the horse completely with hay and 
thus saved him. This was the only horse in the village that was saved. His 
wife as hastily and quickly took up a board in the house floor and put their gun 
and Indian blankets underneath and saved them also. When this was done he 
sauntered out and was made a prisoner, as were what able-bodied men the Brit- 
ish could find. Quite a number of the men were away in the war at one place 
or another at the time. 

According to Dr. Hough they found about three hundred barrels of flour 
stored in a barn owned by Judge Hopkins but occupied by Dr. Sprague. The 
correct number of barrels, according to Mr. Kent's diary, was two hundred and 
eighty-seven. When the flour was left in town only a short time before by the 
ofiicers of the United States army, Judge Hopkins and others urged them to take 
it farther west or allow them to do it, but they declined, saying it would be all 
right there. 

After much effbrt I am unable to locate the barn in which the flour was 
stored with any certainty. The vague impression of several people is that it 
was in the barn on the south side of the road as one enters the village from the 
west, at the top of the hill, where John Harran now resides. It may have been, 
but the minutes of the town meeting of I 8 10 rather indicate that Benjamin W. 
Hopkins made that place his home. The same minutes for the year 1 8 1 1 go to 
show that Judge Hopkins then had a place and lived on the north side of the 
road, where Dr. Sprague so long resided, or just north of the present town 
house. 

The British kept Mr. Thomas pretty busy all day shoeing their horses. 
They carried away all the flour they could handle and started in to destroy the 
balance, but the inhabitants, mostly women, begged so hard that they finally de- 
sisted, and distributed what was left among the people. They gave Mr. 
Thomas seven barrels and paid him some silver for the work he did for them. 
They left the night following their arrival and took quite a number of men away 
with them as prisoners, among whom was a Mr. Roberts, living a little south ot 
the village, and Samuel Goodell. These they released while on their march 
back and they came straggling home. They also picked up about twenty guns, 
which they carried off. As we see fi'om the diary of July 16, 181 2, the in- 
habitants received thirty-two guns from the arsenal in Russell. By this raid they 
lost over half their guns. According to Dr. Hough and Messrs. Durfey and Thomas 
the British conducted themselves, while in town, very gentlemanly and properly ; 
much better than the soldiery have done and are now doing in South Africa. 
— Ed.] 

March. Cold, severe weather. Dr. Sprague sells his ride to Dr. Mott. 
The people are not disposed to employ him, many things against his character. 
Mrs. Risdon taken sick. Dr. Sprague set off for Vermont hence to employ 
McChesney. 



272 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

April. Amanda on the mend. Made about seventy pounds of sugar. 
The people dissatisfied with changing Sprague for Mott. Held a meeting 
on the subject. Mott finally agreed to leave the town and Sprague agreed to 
stay. 

May 9. Begun " " Universal History. Warm and pleas- 
ant. 

May 17. Began to plant corn, a growing season, the woods green. 
[From the ist of May till the 20th it froze hard nearly every night. On the 
13th there was snow and on the 19th snow fell fi-om morning till noon, when 
there were five inches which did not disappear till the 21st. On the 25 th there 
was a heavy frost. — Kent.] 

June. Laughlin raised his house, festival the 24th, next day. [I am con- 
fident this is the house now standing and in use. — Ed.] 

July 7. Sally Hopkins married. Hopkins driving cattle to the British. 

July 10. Mr. Johnson preached at this place. E. Squire for Vermont 
on the I ith. 

July 17. Took a violent cold, laid me up ten days. Miss Lawyer sick. 

July 28. Mr. E. Squire came in from Vermont for cattle. A beautifiil 
growing season. All engaged in haying. Some showery, but no heavy rains. 
Black raspberries thick. 

August I . Not able to labor any. Samuel Abbott is cutting my grass. 

August I 5. He is now cutting my wheat and drawing it to A. Squire's 
barn. 

September 17. David Covey killed a deer. Samuel Abbott building his 
chimney. Went up to Father Post's, too unwell to get home, next day some 
better. 

September 20. Confined wholly to my house. My neighbors cut and 
draw my corn up to my house. Reuben Post comes down every night and does 
my chores. 

October. Miss Gray is sick. Confined to my bed. My physician thinks 
my case doubtful. Raised blood almost constantly, medicine seems to give me 
no relief Dr. Sprague told me he could do no more for me, although I might 
get well. [How comforting and consoling this must have been ! It is a wonder 
it did not kill him. How little the doctor knew is shown by the fact that he 
did not die till I 85 I.] Heman Gray is sick. Miss Gray is apparently better. 
Chaunduo is husking my corn. Benjamin Blanchard is sick. The Rev. Mr. 
Johnson is at Vermont. Heman Gray is worse. I sent for the doctor and told 
him I would have a puke. I took it. It seemed to have a good effect. From 
this time took more courage. Shortly after took another puke. Distressed me 
much. I was many times so distressed at the breast and lungs before I took 
these pukes that it was with difficulty that I spoke a loud word. I shortly after 
took the third puke, a most distressing one it was, for I had to take a large quan- 
tity to operate. I began to almost despair again, for I found puking would not 
answer, although I believed it helped me much. Heman Gray is worse. Is 
looked upon as dangerous. The doctor thinks he is bleeding inwardly. He 
appears much alarmed in his mind. Is unwilling to leave the world. He begs 
every assistance that is possible. He took leave of his family and departed this 
life on the 3 1 st day of October in the morning, and the Lord have mercy on 
his soul. Never did news of a death strike me more solemnly. It seemed as 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 273 

though I must be the next victim for death. The months of November and 
December experienced the same distressing pains in the breast and stomach, after 
bleeding, as a fr,esh wound. 

The Year 18J5 — Mr. Risdon gets better and is very grateful to Neighbors — 
National Thanksgiving — Shocked to see Mrs. Risdon with a Novel, reads 
it and changes his Mind — Oliver Sheldon sprains his Ankle and loses his 
Foot — Cold May — Samuel Eastman raises his House — Took Sacrament; 
feels his Unworthiness — Preacher maintained that the Virtuous Poor are 
far more estimable in God's Sight than the Wealthy — Building Second 
Story of Schoolhouse — Death of Colonel Alex. Brush of Madrid — Et^enezer 
Frost buildi Trip Hammer Shop — Judge Hopkins builds his Second Grist- 
mill — The Story of Each — Death of Reuben Post, killed by falling of the 
Staging on the Schoolhouse — -The Lead Plate placed under the Corner 
Stone — The Battle of Waterloo — The Lodge remits his Dues — Killed 
Two Beavers — Killed Forty-eight Deer and One Wolf in J8J5 — His Tax 
on Schoolhouse, $20, and Two Shares in Upper Room, $10 — Diary of Mr. 
Kent — Severe Weather and Times — Regimental Training at Madrid — 
Church Meeting in New Schoolhouse — Judge Sanford loses Two Children 
— Raise Upper Story of Gristmill — People met in New Church Room 
October 29 for First Time. 

In January I experienced a little mitigation of that distress which has been 
my companion so long. February 10 I rode out after a confinement to my 
house of nearly five months. During these months of confinement and distress 
I feel bound by the ties of natural affection to acknowledge the goodness of my 
neighbors. Father's people, brother Reuben in particular, who was my con- 
stant attendant, have been good and lavish of their kindness. I feel chagrined 
and mortified to think I have not possessed myself more free from a petulous 
disposition ; I have endeavored to suppress my impatience, but I know myself 
hard to govern. 

March 7. Attended town meeting, warm weather. The first days of 
March warm, but it has been a cold month with considerable snow. 

April I . Cold, chilly weather. I am confined to my house. 

April 13. This day was proclaimed by the Congress of the United States 
as a day of public thanksgiving and praise to Almighty God. Mr. Johnson 
preached a sermon on the occasion. When Mrs. Risdon returned from meeting 
I observed her laying a book on the shelf. I took it down and found it to be a 
novel. I thought I had as lieves it to have been some other book. However I 
read the account of the miser and then of the "enthusiast," which were the 
contents of the book. I looked upon it as a mirror wherein I could discover 
my own nature. On the whole I was well entertained. 

April 15. Oliver Sheldon complains of a sprained ankle. A cold and 
chilly April ; people are making sugar. 

April 27. Election ; warm and windy weather, brush burn well. 
Oliver Sheldon's ankle grows worse, pains him much. 

May 19. As memorable time as I ever knew. The snow fell twelve 
inches. It has frozen about every night since first of May, and we had a cold 
April. Miss Walker came to my house the 2 2d. A remarkable season for 
pigeons. 

May 22. Warm growing weather. David Covey dragging, finished 
to-day. 



274 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

May 26. Church meeting day. Joseph Bastin broke flax. 

June 5. Gave A. Warner a deed of a piece of land of fifteen acres for 
which he has paid me §105 in fiill. 

June 10. Mr. Sheldon's leg, it is thought, will have to come ofi^. Doc- 
tors held a counsel on Mr. Sheldon's leg. It is thought it must come off. On 
the 1 Ith in the afternoon it was dissected. It being after meeting of the Sab- 
bath many people attended. Judge Hopkins read a chapter. Esq. " Blanchard " 
made a prayer before the operation. Mr. S. appears more free from pain than 
before the operation. [To-day I saw a limb amputated for the first time, the 
leg of Oliver Sheldon, from a sore supposed to be caused by a sprain in the 
ankle. Drs. Waterhouse, McChesney, Worth and Sprague advised that it 
be done. The bones of the foot were badly decayed. — Kent.] [McChesney 
was a Potsdam doctor. — Ed.] 

June 12. Mr. " Brimsmade's " child is sick. The whooping cough is 
about. 

June 15. Mr. Samuel Eastman raised his house. [It was the fi-ont part 
of the present house. — Ed.] 

June 17. Mr. Sheldon is getting better fast. [On June 19 start for 
Ogdensburg to attend Supreme Circuit Court, Judge Spencer presiding. Stopped 
first night on the way at Scott's Inn in Lisbon. — Kent.] 

June 20. Court at Ogdensburg. R. Post, juror. 

June 25. Attended public worship, partook of the sacrament. I had such 
a sense of my unworthiness as to doubt my conversion, and resolved never to 
partake in those solemn engagements until I am convinced I am worthy. Mr. 
Johnson preached an excellent sermon to a crowded audience. He pleaded that 
all honor, justice and truth come from God, and that the virtuous poor are far 
more estimable in his sight than the wealthy. His address to parents expressed 
a great mind and a good heart. His address to youth was eloquent and beau- 
tifijl. 

June 30. Isaac R. Hopkins's, Esq., child died, aged six months. 

July 5. B. W. Hopkins's child died, aged fifteen months. Warmer 
weather. Asahel Kent raised barn the 4th. At work on the second story of the 
schoolhouse. 

July 8. Samuel Goodell raised his house. Very hot weather. Harmon 
Risdon has the whooping cough. 

July 10. Mr. George Hopkins set out for Vermont in company with his 
mother. Gideon Sprague raised his barn. Captain Hopkins got in from west- 
ward. 

July 12. Very hot. Covey hoeing corn, began to hay. Lent my gun. 

July 15. Very hot. S. Abbott's child sick. Mrs. R. and W. gone 
there. My own health since the middle of February has been subject to many 
changes. The greatest part of the time, however, pretty comfortable. This 
warm spell confines me to the house. L. Chandler out of health. 

July 16. Warm weather, had a shower this morning. 

July 17. S. Abbott, E. and R. Post mowing for me. Eli Squire took a 
task of Turnpike. A. Warner bought Wilson's farm. 

July 18. «H. Kennedy set out for Cornwall. Lent ten dollars to S. Lamb. 
Captain Hopkins and his lady set off for the westward the 1 7th instant. Lucy 
Post here on a visit. Finished haying, except a few cocks to get in. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 275 

July 2 1 . Burnt brush. E. and R. Post helped me. Cleaned out my 
spring. 

July 22. Warm, a fine shower this morning. Some thunder. Colonel 
Brush of Madrid died the I 5 th instant. His death was occasioned by falling on 
a sled stick. A very heavy shower Saturday evening. 

July 23. Mr. Bronson preached. Mrs. Knapp is sick at J. Thomas's. 
Mr. Wright is sick. Monday, the 24th, warm, windy. 

July 25. A heavy rain, warm. Grass good. People have mostly begun to 
hay. Since about the middle of June it has been seemingly one of the most grow- 
ing seasons I ever knew. Prosperity gladdens. The body of the schoolhouse 
is about laid up. Mr. Frost is about building a trip hammer shop. Judge Hop- 
kins is about beginning his gristmill. 

The Upper Gristmill. 

[This mill was built under the bank on the west shore of Lyd Brook, a 
few rods north of the road as you enter the village from the west. The power 
was obtained by bringing the water in a ditch from a point a hundred rods or 
thereabouts south of the road. The remains of this ditch can still be plainly seen 
from the highway in the side of the bank just above the road. In fact it can 
readily be traced its entire length, even along the fence on the brow of the hill 
on the north side of the road, near the Catholic Church. It turned westerly be- 
hind John Harran's house and then northerly through his yard, across the road 
and along the brow of the bank to a point opposite the mill, about fifteen rods 
north of the road. Mr. Harran escorted me over the entire route of the ditch. 

The mill was two stories in height, the first being of stone and the second 
of wood. The corner stones and some of the other base stone are still in place. 
I should judge it was about twenty-four feet square. The water was let on from 
the ditch above to an overshot wheel. Mr. Kent speaks a little later of raising 
the upper story of the mill. It had one run of stones, no doubt the same that 
were in the mill built in 1803 near the cemetery. I do not find as Mr. Risdon 
ever again speaks of this mill or of going to it with a grist, nor does Mr. Kent, 
except to say that a woman was arrested for stealing flour at the mill. No one 
living, so far as I learn, can recall seeing or knowing it to be in operation, though 
several remember hearing others speak of taking grist to it. As Mrs. Enos 
Wood recalls, it was not very much of a success and did not- operate for any 
great length of time. The flow of water was every now and then too scant, and 
in the winter time much trouble was experienced by reason of the water freezing 
in the ditch. However, it must have done most of the grinding for the inhab- 
itants for a few years, and probably continued a checkered career for ten years or 
more. A gristmill was built at Cookham in 1810, and Samuel Wilson built a 
saw and grist mill combined at the East Village (Nicholville) about 18 18, where 
were more water and power. These mills very soon began to get the business 
and after a few years seem to have taken it all. 

Clark S. Chittenden after a time became the owner of the land on the west 
side of the brook and used the old gristmill for some years as a barn. The build- 
ing becoming old and weak, it was torn down and the stone of the first story 
drawn away and used for building purposes. One of the grinding stones is now 
used as the top stone or cover to the well close to the Chittenden store. The 
other was broken and put into the wall of King S. Chittenden's house. — Ed.] 



276 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

The Trip Hammer Shop. 
[No one living can recall this shop and but very few of ever hearing of it. 
Were it not for this very brief mention in the diary the year of its erection could 
not be told. I do not find that Mr. Risdon again speaks of the shop, nor does 
Mr. Kent at all. It was built on the east bank of Lyd Brook on the rear end of 
the third residence lot north of the Town House, where Aunt Polly Hopkins 
lived from 1829 to her death in 1850, and which has since been known as the 
Sheals lot. A strong and substantial dam was built across the brook, since V. A. 
Chittenden, Esq., and others of his age can well recall it. The trip hammer 
was run or worked by water power. The shop was built by Ebenezer Frost, 
who was a blacksmith by trade at Barton, Vt. During the War of I 8 1 2 he at- 
tached himself to the United States cavalry, stationed in and about Plattsburg, as 
horseshoer and blacksmith. After the war he came afoot through the woods to 
the promising village of Hopkinton, as I learn from his son Francis T. Frost of 
The Frost and Wood Company of Smith Falls, Ont., who gives me these par- 
ticulars. The most of the iron that then came to interior points at least was 
Swedish wrought iron in all forms and sizes, but of very short lengths, as large, 
heavy pieces could not be brought in. The office of the trip hammer was to 
draw these billets out into the required forms and sizes for shoes for horse and ox, 
as well as sleigh shoes, tires for wagon wheels, etc. The trip hammer was the 
forerunner of the mighty rolling mills of the present time. Mr. Frost feels cer- 
tain that his father conducted a blacksmith shop in conjunction with the trip 
hammer, and that he also sold hammered iron to neighboring blacksmiths. In 
1 8 16 a private road was laid out on the north side of Mr. Frost's and the south 
side of the lot adjoining on the north from the highway to the west bank of Lyd 
Brook, a distance of twenty-seven rods. There is now, where or about where 
the shop stood, a large bowlder some four feet in height, three feet or more in 
diameter, with a hole cut in the top end about six by nine inches and six inches 
deep, which in all probability was used for some purpose in the trip hammer 
shop. In 1820 he moved to Canton, where he continued the trip hammer busi- 
ness, using two horses for his power and getting his supplies of iron from the old 
firm of Chesney & Allen of Ogdensburg. Getting into some trouble with Silas 
Wright, he left the States for Canada, and in 1839 founded the present large 
manufacturing plant at Smith Falls, employing six hundred men. — Ed.] 

July 27. Went to W. Covey's on a visit. Some showery. 

July 30. The Sabbath, attended meeting, warm, very loud thunder in the 
evening. 

July 31. Warm. This is the day on which Reuben Post, Esq., received 
a mortal wound by a fall from the schoolhouse. Five others and the scaffold fell 
with him. Father Post lies senseless at the house of Thaddeus Laughlin. [This 
schoolhouse was of stone and stood about where the Town House now stands, as 
I am credibly informed. Isaac R. Hopkins, Esq., of Hopkinton, has in his pos- 
session the lead plate that was placed in the corner stone. This plate states that 
Reuben Post, Gideon Sprague and Eli Roberts were the trustees, and Isaac R. 
Hopkins, scribe. Roswell Hopkins, supervisor. Built in 181 5. — Ed.] 

August I . The surgeons go through the operation of trepanning. He ap- 
pears some easier. 

[August I . Yesterday happened one of the most melancholy accidents that 
has ever taken place in this town. Esq. Post with five others, through the 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 277 

fourth scaffold on our town building giving way, fell to the ground amidst stone, 
poles and boards, and, sad to relate, Esq. Post received a mortal wound. Close 
behind the right ear was a fracture from which the brain oozed. There were 
two other fractures in the fore part of his head, the largest of which was tre- 
panned by Drs. Sprague, Waterhouse and McChesney, but all human efforts 
against the will of God are in vain. It is surprising that so many should fall and 
only one get mortally hurt. — Kent.] 

August 2. He appears to fail. Wrote a short letter to Uncle Roswell 
Post. Cool weather. Mr. Merrill and others that fell are getting better. 
Father Post died this evening about eleven o'clock, and his remains interred on 
the 3d. The Rev. Mr. Johnson delivered an excellent discourse on the occa- 
sion. 

August 4. The boys take hold of their haying, S. A. helps them. Four 
years at this date since I married the daughter of Reuben Post and Esther his 
wife. A friendly intimacy has ever subsisted between us, or if there has not 
it is unknown to me and I must be the aggressor, for I have received many ob- 
ligations due from a parent to their children. Showery. Poor hay weather. 

August 10. Considerable grass to cut yet. Some have begun reaping. I 
have not heard from the Genesee since last winter. Something whispers all is 
not well. I long to hear from them very much. It is not wanting but a few 
days of six years since I have seen my parents, brothers or sisters. Tuesday 
Phineas and Joseph Durfcy reaping for Mother Post. Showery. 

August 14. News of a great battle and overthrow of Bonaparte. [This re- 
fers of course to the battle of Waterloo, which was fought June 18, 18 I 5. So 
it took two months for the news to reach Hopkinton. Now we would get it 
the same day and night, by our clocks, "before it happened." — Ed.] Mr. 
Squire making Turnpike. Killed a hawk. My health is growing better, I do 
some chores. Attended lodge meeting. Observed to the lodge it was about a 
year since 1 had attended — that they must take what order they thought proper 
upon it — that my intentions were to attend as punctually as my health and 
circumstances would admit. The sentiment of the lodge was that sickness and 
inability to attend were pardonable. I was likewise given my expenses for the 
evening and my quarterly dues for a year and a half. 

August 23. Three weeks past very showery. People done haying. 

August 27. Settled all book accounts with T. Laughlin and found due 
him J52.53, for which I gave him my note, which sum when paid is in fiiU of 
all demands. 

August 3 1 . Killed two beavers. 

September i . Went to Parishville. 

September 2. Killed two deer. 

September 5. Shot two deer. Killed at this date, October 25, of the 
season of 181 5, thirteen deer and one wolf. Killed at this date, November 20, 
twenty-one deer. Killed in the season of hunting of 1 8 1 5 forty-eight deer and 
one wolf My tax on the schoolhouse was $io, two shares in the upper part 
;glo, making in the whole $30. My wolf certificate paid that ^30 and leaves 
J20 due from the county. 

[The diary of Mr. Risdon if kept from for the latter part of the year 1 8 1 5 
and the years 1816, 18 17 and 1818 cannot be found. Fortunately I have 
the diary of Mr. Artemus Kent, which I use for that time. — Ed.] 



278 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

[September 4. This is training day. This morning the earth was white 
with frost and ice on the water one-sixth of an inch thicic. It rained nearly 
every day from the 5th to the 1 7th and has done great damage to wheat and 
frost-bitten corn. There will be the greatest scarcity of food ever known in this 
country. Only one consolation is left us, and that is the promise of God to all 
his creatures, which if we depend upon will help us in every trouble. 

September 23. Has rained without intermission for thirty-six hours. 

October 7. Divine goodness has again restored in part my health. Po- 
tatoes are uncommonly light. We have only twenty-five bushels. 

October 12. To-day is regimental training at Madrid. I attended on 
business and out of curiosity. There were but few men and fewer officers pres- 
ent. I returned to Potsdam where I stayed all night. Rode home by Parish- 
ville with considerable numbers in company. 

October 15. Sunday, the people met in the new schoolhouse. 

October 18. I am quite unwell with a cold or influenza which is very prev- 
alent. A great many are sick, though only two have died in this society : viz., 
two children of Jonah Sanford. 

October 24. We are now plastering our house. [This must mean Mr. 
Laughlin's house. — Ed.] Between showers we have raised the wood part of 
Judge Hopkins's gristmill. 

October 26. To-day the proprietors of the Town Room have met and ac- 
cepted of the building Mr. Hopkins built for that purpose. [From this it seems 
that Mr. Hopkins had in charge the construction of the new building. — En.] 

October 27. Butchered our hogs, for want ot grain to teed them. 

October 29. Sabbath, met in our new room for the first time. As Mr. 
Johnson is sick, we had no preaching. 

November 16. Been chasing a wounded deer and sprained my ankle so 
badly that I reached the house with difficulty. Sold some cattle on execution. 

December 12. I went to Russell to fetch a load of goods for Chauncy 
Thomas. Very good sleighing on the Turnpike. 

December 23. We now have a singing school in which several young singers 
are engaged. 

The Year J8J6, by Mr. Kent — Mrs. B. steals Flour from Mill— Flour, $J8 
per Barrel; Porfc, $30 j Potatoes, $J.OO per Bushel; and Hay, $20, and not 
to be had — John Thomas raised Store May J5 — Many People out of 
Provisions of Every Kind — Some Flour coming in, but no Money to buy 
it — Three Years in Partnership -with Thaddeus Laughlin — Forty-one 
Pounds Wool from Seventeen Sheep — Froze hard May 29, and Ice a Half 
Inch June 7 — Death of Mrs. Roswell Hopkins, a Fine Woman ■ — Raised 
Samuel Wilson's Store — Poor Crops and Severe Want — Many People 
w^ithout Bread — Near Starvation — Goes to Vermont, tafces Five Days. 

January, 1816. A Mrs. B. was arrested and finally confessed stealing 
flour from the mill. 

January 2 3 . Gets away from the constable and goes away, to the satisfac- 
tion of all. 

February 8. Father and mother have come to make us a visit for the first 
time. Moses and Huldah are with them. [Thaddeus Laughlin married Han- 
nah, and on her death, Huldah, sisters of Artemus Kent. — Ed.] 

February 15. Brother and sister start for home. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 



J79 



March 9. Snow is two and one-half feet deep in the woods. 
March 27. Tapped our sugar works. 
April 3. Snow mostly gone in the fields. 

April 12. Full four inches of snow has fallen. We now feel the distress 
due to frost and rain last fall. Flour is eighteen dollars per barrel ; pork, thirty, 
and potatoes one dollar per bushel, and not to be had at that. Hay is twenty 
dollars per ton. Indeed, it can't be bought at any price. There is the greatest 
scarcity ever known in this country. 

April 22. Snow fell three inches in depth last night. 
April 30. First day of election. Warm and thick smoke fills the air. The 
sun looks as red as blood. 

May 3. Election ended yesterday. Grass is giving some feed. 
May 15. John Thomas's store raised to-day. Has frozen for past three 
nights uncommonly hard. [It stood on the Chittenden store corner. — Ed.] 

May 23. Many people are out of provisions of nearly every kind. 
Though flour begins to come from the westward, money is so scarce and the 
prices so high that it is impossible for poor people to buy it. The season is cold 
and backward and the prospects look dark for another year. In Him who has 
promised us seedtime and harvest is our only hope, and in Him may we trust. 
Three years the first of May have elapsed since I went into partnership with 
T. Laughlin, at which time we agreed to dissolve. We have in part settled. 

May 29. It froze so hard last night that the mud will bear a man when 
it was three inches deep. 

June 1. Sheared our sheep, got forty-one pounds of wool from seventeen. 

June 3. Start for Ogdensburg to attend court as a constable. 

June 4. No court for want of judges enough to do business. I have 
viewed Fort Wellington. 

June 5. Discharged from court. Reach Madrid at night. 

June 6. Snowed from early morning till one p. m., melting as fast as it 
fell, excepting on the north side of buildings. 

June 7. Very cold. Froze ice one-half inch thick. 

June 8. Snowed till nine a. m. and in afternoon. Melancholy aspect. 

June 1 4. It has frozen every night since June came in, except a few rainy, 
foggy nights. 

June 15. This day, between nine and ten o'clock, expired Mrs. Roswell 
Hopkins, after a long and painful illness lor many years. This town has lost a 
parent, as it were, this neighborhood a kind neighbor, her husband an affectionate 
wife, und her children a tender mother. [Her picture is the frontispiece in this 
book. — Ed.] 

June 28. A little frost. Has been cool for several days and nights. 

July I. Finished raising John Thomas's great house in the corner. [By 
the term "great house" he meant hotel. It was built on the corner where the 
Chittenden store stands. — Ed.] 

July 4. To-day raised S. Wilson's store and house. [It stood on the 
Culver corner, nearly opposite Artemus Kent's. — Ed.] 

July 9. Started in pursuit of . Find the rogues at " Champion," 

and settle with them. 

July I I . We are alarmed not only as to present want but future stores. 
All crops are very backward and promise but little. Our present necessities are 



28o EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

great. Many of our best neighbors are without bread. The prospect of get- 
ting it from abroad is almost " dried " up. Our only source is in Him who 
supports all. He has said there shall be seedtime and harvest. Therefore His 
word will not fail. Let us put our trust in Him and not complain. 

August 12. Began haying. Been very dry and warm of late. 

August 24. Last night there was considerable frost, though no great dam- 
age done. Vines and even corn in some places are ruined. 

August 30. Went to Louisville. Many farmers still haying. Saw much 
corn damaged by frost. 

September I . MelanchoUy time indeed. The people have been reduced 
almost to a state of starvation and now have little prospects. 

September 9. Started with sister Hannah in a one-horse wagon for Ver- 
mont through the fifty-mile woods in company with Dr. Sprague and wife, with 
Miss Seeley, Miss Brush and John Wead. Reached Dorset, Vt., in five days. 

October 2. Started for home. Stayed first night at Bensons, next day 
got to " Bristol," and in three days more reached home. 

October 17. Snow fell eight inches. The backward season and frost 
have entirely cut off the crop of corn and very much damaged late wheat, so 
that grain will be very scarce. 

October 25. Return fi-om transporting " Elenor " M. Hough to Russell. 
Much rain of late, streams very high. 

[The only entry made by Mr. Risdon for the year 18 16, so far as found, 
is as follows : 

" I killed forty-one deer in the season of hunting, 18 16. Esq. Blanchard 
built me a camp and provided fire and provisions and drew the deer into the 
camp for one-half of the meat. I killed thirteen. Stillman Remington has this 
winter drawn wood for me, for which I have paid." — Ed.] 

The Year J8I7, by Mr. Kent— Gets Twenty-five Bushels Wheat at Potsdam for 
$50 — Salt in Ogdensborg — Sued by Hanchett and wins — Freezes Ice May 
3 J — Lyd Brook High and good Sawing — Hard Frost June J6 — Raised 
Samuel Wilson's Sawmill July 28 — Flour $J5 per Barrel — Raised his own 
Dwelling September 28 — First Thanksgiving Day in State, November J3, 
by Proclamation. 

January i, 181 7. Went to Potsdam. Paid §50 for twenty-five bushels 
of wheat by contract with . 

January 16. Returned from court at Ogdensburg with salt for myself and 
T. Laughlin. 

February 4. Returned with tax roll to Ogdensburg. 

February 1 4. This is called the coldest day known by any in twenty 
years. 

February 18. Started for Vermont, reached Burlington. Started for Dor- 
set by way of the lake. Storms too severe to travel on the lake. 

March 4. Start for Hopkinton and reach there by way of Northwest Bay 
woods in four days. 

March 30. People begin to tap their sap trees. 

April 7. Met Hanchett according to his summons. It was the first time 
I was sued alone in York state. I got judgment against the plaintiff. 

April 29. Election begins. Warm and pleasant weather. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 281 

May 2 1 . Warm and pleasant. Washed sheep. Grass sown feed for 
cattle. 

May 25. Sheared sheep, got forty-six pounds of wool from sixteen. 

May 30. As the season is so cold we plant no corn. 

May 31. Rain and snow by showers all day. Clears off at night and 
freezes quite hard. Ice one-half inch thick. 

June 8. White frost in morning. No material damage done. 

June 12. Have had great rains. The brook is the highest this year. Good 
sawing now. 

June 1 6. Hard frost this morning. Killed beans, potatoes and many 
other plants. Sun looks as pale as in winter. 

July 28. To-day raised S. Wilson's sawmill. [It was at the East Vil- 
lage. — Ed.] 

August 1. The month of July has been as warm and growing a month as 
we have had in several years. 

August 9. Flour is now ^1 5 a barrel, though nothing so scarce as it was 
last year. 

August 22. Have had many rainstorms since August 4. The brooks are 
the highest for years. 

September 3. Crops now look fairly promising. 

September 13. A little frost. In some places did a little damage. 

September 28. To-day raised my house. [This is the present Kent resi- 
dence. — Ed.] 

October 4. Harvested about ninety shocks of wheat, large sheaves from 
three one-quarter acres, tolerably well filled. There will be some unsound 
corn. It now appears there will be sul^cient grain for the people. 

November 13. To-day, according to proclamation, was the first Thanks- 
giving in this state. 

The Year J8J8, by Mr. Kent — Goes to Utica with Load by Way of Ogdens- 
burg for Mr. Sellecfc — Snow Four Feet — Judge Piatt presides at Court at 
Ogdensburg — Great Wind and Hall Storm July 23 — Potasti Factory burned 
^Married to Sally Wead, December 10 — Goes to Vermont. 

February 17, 1818. Started for Utica with a load for Mr. Selleck by 
way of Ogdensburg. Hard sleighing, snow four feet in some places. Returned 
on the 27th. 

March 13. The snow was four feet deep three days ago. Now it is 
nearly all gone in cleared fields. 

April 13. Pleasant weather. Begins to look like spring. 

April 20. Snow has fallen a foot. Freezes hard nights. 

April 28. Snow gone in fields. Thrashed my wheat, had seventy 
bushels. 

April 30. Annual election. 

May 4. Snowed four inches to-day. 

May 23. Washed sheep. Quite a growing time. Leaves come forth 
slowly. 

July 6. Go to Ogdensburg to attend Supreme Circuit Court as juror. 
Judge Piatt presiding. 



282 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

July 12. All nature is flourishing. We are encouraged that the judgments 
that "have hung over our land are removed. 

July 23. Great rain, hail and wind storm. It tore down trees without 
number. 

August 14. Last night awakened by cry of fire. Mr." S. Sell's " potash fac- 
tory consumed by fire. The store was saved by the vigilance of the inhabitants. 

August 18. Little frost, no great damage. 

November 15. Plastered the lower part of my house. People building 
chimneys. 

December 10. I was married by H. S. Johnson to Sally Wead. 

February i, 18 19. Started for Vermont, stayed third night at Burlington. 

February 24. Started for Dorset on horseback, took two days. 

March 1 . Start for home, reach Hinesburg in two days. Start tor Hop- 
kinton next day and begin keeping house on Saturday. 

April. To-day started the sawmill. — Kent.] 

The Year J8J9, fay Elisha Risdon — Assists in making Assessment Roll and Jury 
List — Old Captain Peters, the noted Indian Trapper — How he went over 
the Falls at Potsdam to escape a Constable — Worked on Mr. Frost's Dam 

— Hoist Flag on Village Green July 4 — Death of Colonel Benjamin W. 
Hopkins, Sermon by Rev. H. S. Johnson — Shooting Deer — Death of Eben 
Thomas — Hire Rev. H. S. Johnson half the Time — Buys a Rifle for $30 

— Ezefciel Kimball gets info Trouble, leaves Town — Trouble over School- 
master — Indians go on to his Hunting Preserve — Samuel Abbott gets lost 
Hunting — Owes Israel Sheldon and can't pay — Sermon on the Inconsist- 
ency of War with Religion — Editor's Comments — Builds Hovel for his 
Cattle — Up to this Time had only the Forest for a Shelter — Daniel Hoard's 
Distillery at Parishville burns. 

June 14. Clear and pleasant to-day. Been over to the village with 8J^ 
pounds of butter to Wead's. Received of the postmaster seven copies of the 
school act to distribute in the several school districts of the town. Mrs. Ris- 
don making clothes for Harmon. Been smoking, through work. Unwell 
these days. Heard that a barn was burnt in Stockholm yesterday belonging to 
Mr. Rice. 

June 15. Cloudy this morming. Thedelia Rockwell here this morning. 
Been over to the village. Bought at Wead's store two dozen buttons, twenty- 
live cents, one pound of nails at twenty-two cents. Mrs. Risdon making Har- 
mon's clothes. [Harmon was her son. — Ed.] 

June 16. Clear this morning. Harmon put on his new clothes. Been 
over to the village assisting in making out the assessment roll. Mrs. Risdon 
gone to Mr. Hosea Brooks's this afternoon. Not well these days, I cannot hunt. 
Harmon gone to his grandmother's. I long to be well. A man is miserable 
without his health. David Covey here, wants to make a fence for me. 

June 17. Clear this morning, warm. Been over to the village assisting 
in making out the jury list, finished it. A shower to-day, some wind. Been 
out with my gun. Shot at a deer in " Art." Kent's lot. A shower in the 
night. Linda Covey been here to-day. Elias Post been logging. 

June 18. Very warm this morning, cloudy. Been out with my gun, 
saw nothing but mosquitoes and flies. Miss Risdon washing. It thunders, 
think it will rain. Hopkins people hunting for a three-year-old cow that is 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 283 

missing. Beebe Abbott not well these days. There is a heavy shower coming 
up from the west, been out viewing the lightning. The people are at work on 
the road. Very hot this afternoon. Heavy thunder. The shower is most 
here. The people are leaving their work, they stop in here. It rains hard 
and thunders and lightens. It has thundered and lightened most all day. A 
very growing time. 

June 19. Cooler this morning, a west wind. Cloudy and some rain. 
The people have gone to work on roads. My health is some better. Clears 
off cool. Been out with my gun, shot a woodchuck. 

June 20. Cool this morning. A frost in some parts of the town. Been 
to meeting to-day. No preaching. Mr. Johnson gone to Potsdam to preach 
a funeral sermon. McChesney's child is dead. Heard a woman in Malone 
had poisoned herself and some of her children to death. Noah and Reuben 
Post here. Noah gone to conferene. 

June 21. Cool and clear this morning. Been over to the village with 
eight pounds of butter to Wead's. Mrs. R. cooked her woodchuck. Reuben 
came down to dinner. Elias Post is hoeing his corn. Noah Post is getting out 
timber for a house. Been out with my gun. Mary has been to school to-day. 

June 22. Cool yet. Been over to the village. Paid " Mr. Hender- 
son " Ji.izi/^ for a deed he brought from Ogdensburg. Paid to T. Laughlin 
seven shiUings, he gave me no credit on book. Mother here to-day picking 
wool. Old Captain Peters came out of the woods with his fur, about gzoo 
worth. Been out with Mr. Johnson after a deer, saw three, shot none. 
Stayed with Mr. Johnson all night. Been out this morning. Saw two, shot 
none. [Captain Peter was a celebrated Indian. He was a great trapper and 
hunter, but more famous as the former. He ranged the entire Adirondacks in 
his excursions as a trapper. For quite a long time he held the position of chief 
of the St. Regis tribe. He was a very friendly Indian, of medium size and 
stood well with the white men. He lived to a great age, but could not tell it 

further than to say he was moons old. Mr. Zebina Coolidgc never 

saw him, but his father, Isaiah, did several times. At one time he was owing a 
party whom he did not, for some reason, wish to pay. The creditor, learning 
that Peter would come down the Racket River at about a certain time, had a 
constable stationed at Potsdam to catch him. He would ordinarily land there 
and carry his canoe around the falls, but somehow learning that he was wanted 
he kept out in the stream and standing up in his canoe shot down over the falls 
and on to St. Regis in safety. — Ed.] 

June 23. Foggy this morning, quite a rain last night. Mother here, 
stayed all night. It cleared off warm. Mrs. Risdon setting out cabbage plants. 
Sent to Ogdensburg for public money by Mr. Laughlin. Henry Green here 
this morning hunting for his heifer. It thunders and rains. Been out with my 
rifle, shot at a deer, missed it. Solon Covey here, stayed all night. 

June 24. Cool this morning. Not very well. It thunders, looks likely 
for rain. Mary appears fond of going to school. Harmon is well pleased. 
Eleven o'clock it does rain. Mrs. Risdon washing. One of my lambs wants doc- 
toring. 

June 25. A lowery, cloudy day. Mrs. Risdon gone over to the village 
with butter to Wead. Ten pounds three ounces. Church meeting day. 



284 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

June z6. More pleasant to-day. Been over to village. Received of 
Thads. Laughlin |! i 5 5 public road money. Bought a calfskin of Mr. Seeley, 
^4. Lucy Post here. Warmer towards evening. 

June 27. Sunday, Mrs. Risdon gone to meeting. Warm this morning, 
cloudy. Heard a gun, suppose somebody is hunting deer on Sunday. 

June z8. Warm. Mrs. Mosher here. Been down to Stockholm, shot 
a deer, lost it. 

June 29. Shot a deer. David was with me. Got it with Mr. Mosher's 
dog. Shot at another, missed it, poor powder. Let David Covey have ^6 
in money. He is to build a fence. Paid L R. Hopkins ^14 on an order of 
Esq. Brush's. Been up to Samuel Abbott's. School children here. Let 
Esq. Hopkins have a quarter of venison. Let Samuel M. Simonds have two 
pounds of butter. 

June 30. Showery this morning. Gaius Sheldon, here. Paid him ^55 
on an order. He is to pay me back $2.42 that I overpaid on account of making 
change. Mrs. Covey and her children here. We have all been down to Mr. 
Mosher's this afternoon. 

July 1 . More pleasant. Been down to Gaius Sheldon's. Let him out 
to cut eight acres of grass. Heard of the death of Mrs. Tambolin, died yes- 
terday morning. Mr. Mosher shot a deer. Mrs. Risdon been over to Wead's 
with butter, seven pounds. 

July 2. Showery weather. Esq. Abbott here, paid him J 12.93 on an 
order. Went to Mr. Ransom's after chairs, not done. E. and R. Post 
here, put up some fence, etc. Let Elias Post have three yards of striped cloth. 
Showery. 

July 3. Been over to village with seven and one-halt pounds butter to 
Wead's. Bought three tin pans. Been down to Frost's assisting on his dam. 
[This was the dam of Ebenezer Frost for a trip hammer shop, some sixty rods 
north from village bridge over Lyd Brook. — Ed.] Heard S. C. Henry house 
had like to burnt up, it was a hotel. 

July 4. Sunday, cool, been to meeting. Conference at mi er's. 

July 5. Cool this morning, a little frost last night. John Mosiier been hoe- 
ing my potatoes. Paid Phin Durfey J20, took up a note and interest, JJ16.15. 
J3.50 he is to pay back when he can get change. Paid Heman Sheldon jjj. 
I owe him J2.75 more. Been over to village to Mason meeting and to the 
concert meeting likewise. Mrs. Risdon gone over to Ladies' Society meeting. 
The American flag is hoisted on the Green. Some firing of guns. 

July 6. Warmer, not well to-day. Went out with my gun towards 
evening. Shot twice, got nothing. Talked some of going to Vermont. 

July 7. Very warm. David Covey begun on my fence. Elias Post begun 
on barn. A shower toward evening. Mrs. Risdon gone over with butter to 
D. W. Seeley, five pounds. Phineas and Joseph Durfey here. Been to 
Palmer's, over due. N. B. What is written above for the 7th is the 8th. 
What took place is as follows : A clear day. Reuben Post drawing boards for 
the barn. Been down to carding machine with wool, seventeen pounds. 

July 9. Very warm day. Boys at work on barn. David Covey at work 
on fence. Mrs. Risdon making cheese. She is now down to Mr. Mosher's. 

July 10. Very warm day. David drawing fence stuff. The boys at 
work on rails. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 285 

July 1 1 . Sunday, very warm weather. Mrs. R. gone to meeting. Some 
wind and thunder, looks likely for rain. Elias Post stayed all night. Very 
much troubled with rheumatism these days. D. Rockwell had four pounds of 
butter here on the 9th. 

July 19. Week past has been warm. Some people have begun to hay. 
The boys have been at work on the barn and hoeing. David Covey finished 
his fence. John Mosher worked for me one-half day this week or the week 
past. A very warm day this. Been up to mother's, Mrs. also. 

July 20. A very warm day, went down to Stockholm yesterday, stayed 
all night, killed one deer. 

July 21. Began to hay. Elias and Reuben Post and David Covey to 
work for me. Very warm weather. 

July 22. Society meeting. People are pretty much engaged in haying. 

August I. It has been since the 2 2d of July warm weather. Not been 
very well. 

August 10. Angeline Roburds here spinning. Warm weather to the end 
of the month. 

August 3 1 . Set out for Ogdensburg after public money. Received of 
the county treasurer Jl 21.69, September I. 

September 18. Heard of the death of Colonel B. W. Hopkins, who 
died on the Island of Cuba, West Indies. Been out with my gun. [Colonel 
Hopkins had a government contract for the building of some fortifications at Mo- 
bile Point, Ala. His father, Roswell, and Thaddeus Laughlin were his bonds- 
men. Judgments were recovered against them. After the Colonel's death 
Congress passed a act granting to his estate ^13,260, less the judgments. John 
H. Leach tells me that he was told by Joel Goodell that the death of the Colonel 
came about in this wise : While out on a boat in connection with his work a 
great storm arose which nearly engulfed them. The Colonel stripped off and 
worked with the sailors to save the boat. The captain dreaded to go into port 
at Havana, "^uba, as the yellow fever was raging, but was finally compelled to 
do so. Th, Colonel went ashore, took the fever and died. Everything goes to 
show that he was a bright, capable and ambitious man. — Ed.] 

September 19. Sunday. By the request of Roswell Hopkins, Esq., 
father to the deceased, a fijneral sermon was delivered on the occasion by the 
Rev. H. S. Johnson. All master Masons were requested to form in procession 
with his other friends and pay funeral honors to their brother and fi-iend, B. W. 
Hopkins. He died the 13th of August, 18 19. 

September 20. Judge Hopkins sets out for the bay of Mobile Point, Ala. 
He feels much borne down with grief over the loss of his son. He delivered a very 
affecting address to the audience yesterday. There was scarcely a dry eye in 
the room. He is a man that is much loved and respected by all classes of peo- 
ple. Been out with my gun, shot a deer. Heard Oliver Thomas was married 
last Sunday evening to Miss Esther Mosher by Jonah Sanford, Esq. 

September 21. Went after my venison with E. Post. Shot at a deer. 

September 22. Mr. Roburds here. Went over to the village with him. 
Went out with my gun towards evening. Shot a deer, did not get it until 
the next morning, a likely buck. 

September 23. Been after the deer I shot the night before. 



286 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

September 24. A warm, windy day. Been out with my gun. Esq. 
Sanford from Vermont is in. 

September 25. A windy day. Not well to-day. The days begin to be 
sensibly shorter. The frost has killed vegetation. The leaves of the trees 
begin to turn yellow. It looks like the fall of the year, which reminds us of 
the afternoon of life, when the winter of death is approaching. 

October 6. Eber Thomas died, buried the 7th. H. S. Johnson preached 
the sermon, attended funeral. After meeting shot a large buck. Warm 
weather. 

October 11. Shot a deer in Stockholm. 

October 12. Cloudy, chilly. Society meeting. Agreed to hire Mr. 
Johnson, half time. 

October 13. Some snow this morning. Went down to Stockholm. 
Shot a deer. 

October 14. Shot a deer in Stockholm. Sold it to Mr. Bills. Showery 
weather. 

Octobes 15. Went to Parishville. Bought a rifle. Gave my note for 
thirty dollars. 

October 16. Showery weather. Broke the breech of my rifle by a fall. 
Elias Post here getting wood. David Kennedy and Lucy Post here. 

October 17. Sunday, showers, cold weather. 

October 20. I am hunting these days, but not with very good success. 

October 28. Shot four deer. Some snow on the ground. Samuel 
Abbott killed three this week. 

October 29. Reuben Post went with a team after my venison. Shot 
another deer. 

November I . Attended Mason meeting. Warm weather. S. Webster 
sick. 

November 2. Went hunting, showery, chilly weather. Angehne here. 

November 5. Shot a deer. Samuel Abbott with me, a large doe. I 
have killed at this date this season fifteen deer. Samuel Abbott and myself have 
been out to our camp. I shot two deer. Still weather, cloudy. 

November 13. Snow storm, went hunting, shot nothing. 

November 15. Been out to my hunting camp, shot nothing. 

November 17. Very warm this morning, a rainbow to be seen. Mrs. 
Risdon and Angeline been up to mother's on a visit. A beautiful time for 
walking out. Harmon is missing, has returned not from school. Been reading 
an account of the Great Council, quite an animating account. 

November 18. Weather clear and warm. Been out with my gun. Shot 
nothing. Reuben Post brought me the form of two bushels of wheat and the 
form of one and one-half bushels of corn. Elias drew some timber for barn 
doors. Mrs. Risdon been washing. She is now reading the Bible about nine 
o'clock evening. Harmon put up at Esq. Hopkins's last night on account of 
the weather being rainy. I have to-day put into one of my windows a thin 
board. Helped Lucy get in a web into the loom. Mrs. R. has been whip- 
ping the cat and got some scratched. 

November 19. Weather snowy, clears off warm. Killed my cow. 
Samuel Abbott and Elias Post assisted. Let Eli Roburds have one-quarter. He 
let me have an order on the town for wolf bounty. Let Mr. Mosher have one- 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 287 

quarter. Salted down one-half for my own use. Noah Post been maknig barn 
doors. The skin of my cow weighed seventy-one pounds, the meat five hun- 
dred, tallow about fifty. Considerable difficulty at the village with E. Kimball 
and O. " Farrer." The sherifl^s and constables appear to be watching about 
his house, that is, Kimball's. Some say it is for passing counterfeit money, 
others say for debt. How it is I can't say. He has lately put away his wife 
for adultery, as he terms it. He appears to be beside himself and acts very much 
unbecoming. [Mrs. Lucetta Peck, of this village, born in I 814, daughter of 
Seth Abbott, a pioneer, shows me an original warrant issued by her father, a 
justice of the peace, in a plea of trespass on the case for the arrest of Avery 
Saunders on the complaint of Ezekiel Kimball dated June z8, 1817, with the 
return of the constable on the back that he has the prisoner in custody and plain- 
tiff notified. — Ed.] 

November zo. Warm, pleasant weather. Been out with my gun with 
Samuel Abbott and were something lucky. We found the deer dead that we 
shot the I 8th, and passing on from that to hunt for a shot pouch that he lost the 
day he shot the deer, we found a large doe that I shot about a fortnight ago. 
The skins were good on them both. Mrs. Risdon has been trying tallow to- 
day. Angeline has been studying arithmetic, etc. Heard Mr. Kimball had 
gone to the French Mills, and that the poormasters have taken charge of some 
of the property. Mary has been up to her grandmother's to-day and Lucy has 
been down with her this evening. It is now about nine o'clock. Mrs. Ris- 
don has gone to bed and I suppose is something tired. Angeline sits writing 
and reading. 

2 I St. Cold, chilly weather. Sunday, been to meeting. Mr. Johnson 
preached in the Hall. Elder Johnson in Town House. Baptized Mr. Moon 
by immersion. E., N. and R. Post, Lucy Post, Eben Wright and Mr. Curtis 
here this evening. Elias and myself amused ourselves with some sums in the 
square root, while the others played a game or two at checkers. 

2 2d. Cold, chilly weather. Eliza Kimball here after Angeline to sew 
awhile. Angeline went with her. E. and R. Post, Samuel Abbott logging for 
me. They have gone to help Seth Abbott, " Sen.," raise a house this after- 
noon. Been up to mother's. In the evening been over to Esq. Hopkins's. 
Some difficulty with the schoolmaster. It is thought by some he uses too much 
severity with his scholars. He, however, pleads not guilty, talk of dismissing 
him. 

23 d. Rained some last night and froze on the ground. N. and E. Post 
and David Covey here this morning. Cut a few logs for the fire. It rains 
some and freezes as it falls, quite slippery travelling. Been up to Samuel Ab- 
bott's to grind an axe. Beuben Post assisted and came home with me for a few 
candles. Mrs. Risdon been over to Mr. Mosher's. I saw her coming with a 
sieve, some tow and a bundle of straw. I could hardly conceive who it was. 
Have had an invitation to go over to the school meeting at the village. It is so 
dark and slippery and I not very well, think it not prudent. I hope they will 
use the schoolmaster well, for he has not, in my opinion, merited ill treatment. 
He may not, however, be well qualified to superintend a school. If he should 
prove to be so the better way would be to annul his certificate and dismiss him 
in a polite and handsome manner. Mrs. Risdon is cutting some pumpkin to 



288 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

stew. It is now about nine o'clock in the evening. I will go to the barn and 
give my cows some hay and go to bed. 

Seize, mortals, seize the transient hour, 

Improve each moment as it flies ; 
Life is a short summer, man a flower. 

He dies, alas, how soon he dies. 

24th. Chilly this morning. The ground is still covered with ice. Been 
this day at work about my house, put up two shelves, fixed one of my doors, 
laid some floor over the cellar, etc. Harmon has not been to school to-day, so 
slippery walking. Heard the result of the school meeting last evening. They 
have agreed to let Mr. Pinne continue his school awhile longer. He may give 
better satisfaction. I am disposed to think the gentleman's intentions are good. 

25th. A warm day, southwest wind. The ice has chiefly melted away. 
Been out with my gun, saw one deer, shot nothing. Mr. Curtis has raised a 
house on the Turnpike. Mrs. Risdon has by the looks of things been washing. 
Mrs. Kent has been quilting. I have been amusing myself with reading some 
pieces in the English Reader. There are some excellent pieces in that book. 

26th. It has rained all day. There has been but little stirring about. 
Reuben Post has been here, has gone over to Samuel Goodell's for blacksmith 
work. David Eastman has been past with a load of boards. I have kept the 
house pretty much, have amused myself with a book some, been idle some. 
Mrs. Risdon has been cleansing some tallow, knitting, etc. Harmon is at 
school. Mary is at play about the house. Time once passed never returns. 
The moment which is lost is lost forever. -A gentleman stopped in here this 
evening to inquire the way to Mr. Wright's. I had almost forgotten to men- 
tion this is church meeting to-day. I saw Mr. Warner about sundown return- 
ing from meeting. He says there were but a few people there, that Mrs. 
Mosher's confession was read. 

27th. Cloudy, rather cooler. Set out early this morning with my gun. 
Shot a large doe, wounded a large buck and raked the hair off a fawn. Pleasant 
some part of the day. Lucy Post has been here making candles. Mrs. Risdon 
has been over to the village. Mr. Curtis has finished laying up his house. 
Elias has been here this evening, said he had been to Parishville to-day. Heard 
that Mr. Kimball's people are about clearing out to the French Mills. They 
owe me about two dollars. They are welcome to that if they will leave the 
town. I do not wish them evil by any means. The conduct of the family has 
been very unbecoming. They may, however, become more sensible of their 
follies and do better. Harmon put up at Esq. Hopkins's last night. I have 
strictly forbidden his staying from home unless something particular. I am dis- 
posed to think he will come immediately home from school for the future. Mrs. 
Risdon says Angeline could not content herself at Mr. Kimball's. She took some 
sewing work and went to her father's house. 

28th. Weather cold, some hail or round snow. Been to meeting, no 
preaching. Esq. Hopkins read a sermon in the fore part of the day, J. K. 
Wead in the after part. An Indian been here for deerskins, said he would come 
to-morrow again. Been this evening up to mother's. The young people at a 
conference at Mr. Green's. 

29th. Cold this morning. Mrs. Risdon washing. Been up to mother's. 
The boys cuting wood for Mr. Johnson. Mrs. Abbott weaving. Samuel 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 289 

Abbott, E. and R. Post here this afternoon with two yoke of oxen get- 
ting wood for me. An Indian and two squaws been here to-day, bought two 
skins of me. Been over to Mason meeting, the day for electing lodge officers. 
Been to Mr. Seeley's. He is going to make me a pair of shoes. Heard there 
had four Indians gone up on to my hunting ground, which displeases me much. 
However, I can't help myself I suppose they have an equal right there. An- 
gehne at Samuel Abbott's. Hear Samuel Webster is very low, nearly gone with 
consumption. Mrs. Risdon complains of being something tired after washing all 
day. Think of going out to-morrow to take care of some venison I have hidden 
in the woods, put it out of the way of wild vermin. 

30th. Rather warmer, cloudy, windy. Been out with my gun. Found 
the Indians have been on my hunting ground. I have seen three deer, shot 
none. Angeline Roburds at our house. Old Mr. Brooks been here. Hannah 
Roburds came from school with Harmon. Susan Seeley been here, rather 
rude, drawing profiles, etc. I do not feel satisfied about those Indians hunting 
on my ground. 

December i. Been out with my gun, Samuel Abbott with me, saw 
nothing of the Indians. Shot a deer and broke his hip, did not get it. Came 
to mother's to supper. David Covey and wife, Samuel and wife, Angehne 
and Mrs. Risdon there. 

zd. Snowy weather. Been out with my gun, travelled some way, saw 
but one deer, most discouraged. However, a hunter if he intends to hunt 
must expect discouragements. 

3d. Set off in the morning with my gun again with fresh courage. Shot 
two deer. Samuel Abbott with me, put up at the camp. Samuel killed one 
deer. 

4th. We left the camp this morning early, in the first place to hang up 
the deer we had killed the day before. Samuel shot a doc. 1 was with him. 
She fell. I had not the least idea but that she was secure, but before we came 
up to her she got on her feet and we saw her no more. I shot one afterwards. 
I have killed at this date twenty-three deer. It has snowed some to-day, 
Saturday, quite tired. 

Jth. Sunday, severe cold. Mrs. Risdon and Angeline gone to meetiug. 
I have no greatcoat. I cannot sit in a cold house without one. Rhome 
and Sally Abbott in here to warm. Angeline been reading the Mountain 
Mourner. Been mending my moccasin. [In those days religious people, 
I am told, observed Saturday evening from sundown as a part of the Sabbath day 
in exchange for Sunday evening from sundown. — Ed.] 

6th. Set out this morning with my gun thinking to stay all the week at my 
hunting camp. I had the company of Samuel Abbott and Elias Post. At first 
we went in search of a deer that Samuel wounded the Saturday before, did not 
get it. We then parted. I went to hunting, shot at a buck, missed it. Going 
to camp came across Elias. I asked him if he had a compass, he said not. 
Wondered at his being without a guide in a strange wood on a cloudy day. We 
walked together, so dark before we reached the camp we could not find the point 
of the compass we wished, fired a gun, Samuel answered and we reached the 
camp. 

7th. Moderate weather. Set off early this morning. Elias in company 
with me. Had not proceeded far before I shot a deer, wounded it. E. shot 



zgo 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 



and killed it. Heard Samuel's gun several times. Shot at a deer and missed it. 
Not long after killed a large doe. Went to camp, something tired. Prepared 
wood for the night. At dark Samuel not returned, expect he will lie in the 
woods if he has not gone home. 

8th. Warm this morning. Heard nothing of Samuel. Set off to follow 
him and find if possible where he is. About nine o'clock he came to me, said 
he had been home. He got lost, came across Lyd Brook and followed it down 
to Mr. Roburds's. He said he did not get home until about twelve o'clock at 
night. I shot one deer to-day. [On the whole I am disposed to think that his 
hunting camp built for him by Amasa Blanchard in i 8 1 6 was some four miles 
south, near where Dimick Osgood formerly lived, now owned by William 
Hunter. — Ed.] 

9th. Rained some last night. Cold this afternoon, blustering weather. 
Saw two deer to-day. Came in from hunting, found all well. 

loth. Severe cold north wind. Regret that I am not in the woods hunt- 
ing. I am fond of being in the woods on a cold day, especially if there be a 
lively brisk wind from the north. The air is then clear, the blood circulates 
lively. More than all that the deer are skipping about on the hills such days, all 
which tends to enliven and animate a person of my turn of mind. I am sensible 
I possess an immoderate fondness for hunting. My very nature and constitution 
were formed for fatigue and hardship. I am so used to it, it has become a second 
nature. I cannot sit idle and sit easy. Been up to mother's to-day. Mrs. R., 
Angeline and Mary there. About eight o'clock severe cold. It worries my 
mind that I have no shelter for my cows these cold nights. However, I give 
them plenty of hay. 

I ith. Cold weather, blustering. Been over to village with cloth for a great- 
coat. I agreed with the tailor to make it, and a straight bodied coat also ; am 
to pay him in grain the ist of February next. Mr. Laughlin's boys here this 
morning after tallow, had eleven pounds. Traded at Wead's store for trim- 
mings, etc., about ^3. Received a letter from I. Sheldon of Pawlett. I am 
owing him seventy dollars. He wants it. Feel much exercised about what 
I am owing Mr. Sheldon. How I am to make out the money I do not know. 
I see no way. 

I 2th. Sunday, cold, blustering weather. Not well. None of the family 
go to meeting. Samuel Webster died the 8th ult. How exceeding prone is 
the mind of man to find something to disturb its tranquillity ! 

13th. Cold this morning. Set off for my hunting camp in company with 
Samuel Abbott, likewise Eben Wright and Mr. Curtis. They are going up to 
get in our venison. 

14th. Finished getting our venison together and made a road, etc. I shot 
one deer. Some snowy this forenoon. The boys in good spirits. They 
think, however, they would not make hunters. 

I 5th. Wright sets off home for a team. Curtis is repairing some places 
in the road. Snow some to-day. Shot one deer. Wright gets back as far as 
the camp, brings some more provisions to us. 

16th. Some blustering to-day. Shot two deer. Wright breaks down his 
sled. Has to go home for another. Abbott cannot get a shot. 

1 7th. Moderate weather. Shot one deer to-day. The boys get back 
with another sled. I have killed at this date thirty-one deer. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 291 

I 8th. The boys set oiF for home with fifteen deer and get home without 
much difficulty. It being Saturday we are all at home, considerably fatigued 
with poor fare and a smoky camp. My health is not sufficient for such hard- 
ships, but still I feel ambitious to coop one more. Abbott thinks he shall not. 

1 9th. Sunday, been to meeting this forenoon with Mrs. Risdon. I came 
home at noon to take care of the children. It snows fast and looks likely for 
deep snow. Mrs. Risdon sits mending my hunting clothes. I feel ambitious 
to set off in the morning and shall if I am well and my family is well and the 
snow is not too deep, for I have three deer in the woods which I want to take 
care of or the wild vermin will destroy them. I feel sensible my mind is too 
much engaged in the concerns of this world, especially in sporting with my gun, 
but I really hope and pray that I may not be so taken up with objects of time 
and sins as wholly to disregard the concerns of immortality. For certainly that 
Being who was the cause of existence and who still continues His goodness 
towards me ought to have my highest regard. 

20th. Monday morning. Snow about eighteen inches. Ashbel Squire 
here, wants I should pay his tax. Mr. Bowker of Parishville here this morn- 
ing, wants venison. Set off for my hunting camp. I give Mr. Cowless one 
dollar for assisting me up with pack and cutting me one load of wood. Shot 
one deer. The snow is so deep I can't hunt. Lodged at my camp with Mr. 
Cowless, warm and comfortable. 

2 1 St. Took care of my venison and returned home. Elias Post been 
making barn doors. Noah brought me some corn. 

Z2d. Thanksgiving Day. Been to meeting. Asahel Kent here this 
evening. Begun to feed hay from my stack. Went to the tailor's for my great- 
coat. Mrs. Risdon making a pair of pantaloons for me. John Henderson is 
collecting taxes. Considerable said about the sermon preached to-day upon the 
inconsistency of war, it being contrary to true religion. [It is assuring to find 
that this great moral question troubled some of the people in those early days. 
However, their preaching and their prayers, as well as that of those who suc- 
ceeded them, have been of but little or no avail. The people of the earth have 
been waging war ever since and are still at it. They all in utter trustfulness and 
lowliness look up to God and the same God as the source of all tenderness, 
kindness and love, and yet, on one pretext or another, they all every now and 
then blow their trumpets and bugles, send out their orators to inflame the people, 
marshall the brave patriots in companies, regiments and brigades, give each sol- 
dier some tracts and a copy of the Bible, with a modern gun and plenty of am- 
munition, hire a minister of the gospel to go along with each regiment to keep 
them in the ways of peace and righteousness, and, thus organized and equipped, 
with bugle blast, tears and prayers send them forth to do and die. What an 
errand and what a mission for a believer in and follower of Christ ! There is 
surely something wrong somewhere. The foe we fight is asking and imploring 
aid nnd help and strength of the same God to do us to death. Our religion is 
good, the wrong is not there. The trouble is in our selfish, rapacious natures. 
The spirit of the tiger is still in us or in many of us, and dominates most 
peoples, but it is growing weaker, and the time is coming, ages hence may be, 
when men will cease butchering one another at the behest of some offended or 
grasping ruler, and be in fact disciples of the doctrine of the brotherhood of 
man as well as disciples of Christ. — Ed.] 



292 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 



23d. Not very well to-day, Elias Post at work on my barn. Samuel 
Abbott shot a large buck near his house. 

24th. Colder weather, some snow to-day. Elias Post at work on barn. 
Reuben here this afternoon drawing rail cuts for fence in a hog pasture. Elias 
cut three-fourths of a cord of wood. Loren Chubb been here to-day. I. R. 
Wead also. 

25th. A severe cold night and morning. Been cutting some wood. 
Been over to village. '^ David Kennedy here, also Ashbel Squire and Mr. 
Cooledge. Cooledge and Squire talk of building me a hovel for my cattle. 
Amused myself with reading a book entitled "Speculative Masonry." Heard 
that D. Hoard of Parishville had his still consumed by fire lately, has lost ^3,000. 

26th. Sunday, been to meeting ; rather cold ; met in the lower room. 
Esq. Abbott is after a sister of his of whom he heard was in Chateaugay on 
her way to this town with two of her children, daughters. Esq. Abbott got 
home this evening with his sister and daughters. 

27th. Weather more moderate. Mr. Cooledge and Russell Squire here 
at work cutting timber for a hovel for me. Been cutting wood at my door this 
forenoon. Been over to village this afternoon to Mason meeting. Mrs. Risdon 
been over to society meeting. Brought home a coat from the tailor. 

28th. Weather colder, blustering, some snow. Mr. Chubb, Reuben 
Post and Gaius Sheldon here. Heard Colonel Hoard had a still house raised 
to-day. 

29th. Severe cold, cut some wood. Martin Covey been here after salt. 
Elias Post here. Mrs. Risdon at Mr. Mosher's this afternoon. 

30th. Severe cold night and morning. Harmon goes to school these 
cold days. He complains some. 

31st. Cold weather. I have cut some wood to-day. Very severe 
weather for cattle that have no shelter. I fear some of my cows will almost or 
quite perish before Mr. Cooledge gets the hovel built. Mr. Mosher carried the 
children to school in a sleigh. But very little passing to-day. Church meeting 
day. I cannot attend. I am not well. It is as much as I can do to take care 
of my cattle and cut my wood and keep fires. 

The Year J820 — Household Sick, no one to pot Log on the Fire — Sells Deer to Mr. 
Bowfcer of Parishville — Roswell Hopkins's Lands sold for Debt — Eben Wright 
marries Rhome Abbott — Breaking Road w^ith Six Yoke of Oxen — Distemper 
among Horses and Cattle. 

January i . Weather more moderate. Noah Post here. Not well to-day, 
confined this afternoon to my bed, a bad cold. 

2d. Sunday, not well. None of us go to meeting, communion day. 
Lonesome times. We are all sick. No one comes in to cheer or assist us to 
a fire. 

3d. Weather more moderate. Lucy Post and Samuel Abbott here. He 
says he has to go to Ogdensburg to court this sitting. Not well to-day. We 
suffered some last night for want of a fire. No one to put a log on for us. Talk 
of riding out with Lucy to the west. The weather is so blustering we conclude 
not to go. Lucy stayed at our house this afternoon. 

4th. Weather more moderate. Sent Harmon down to Mr. Squire's with 
a line to Mr. Cooledge. Mr. Cooledge and Mr, Squire's boys here laying up 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 293 

a hovel for me. Philip Mosher here butchering a pig that I have been fatting 
this fall. Reuben Post here cutting some wood. Cut up my pig, weight one 
hundred and fifty pounds. Gaius Sheldon here. Drew a load of hay from a 
staci: he cut on my land two years last summer ; not hurt, he says. Mr. Bowker 
of Parishville was here this morning. Agreed to let him have the hind quarters 
of ten deer and the skins on them for six cents per pound and one dollar apiece 
for the skins, deducting eight pounds out of each deer for the skins. Heard Eze- 
kiel Kimball is dead, think it possible it is a mistake. We have been credibly in- 
formed he is very sick, however. It is rumored that if he is dead or should die 
his family will derive support from the town of Hopkinton as their last legal 
place of residence. It is a question in my mind whether they have gained 
a residence here or not. Been expecting Mr. and Mrs. Roburds here this 
evening. They have not come. Harmon is gone from school to his grand- 
mother's. 

5th. Moderate weather. Not well. Want some person to assist me 
skin deer. Been up to mother's. Noah says he will help me. 

6th. Moderate weather. Been expecting Mr. Isaiah Cooledge here to 
finish the hovel he began for me. Been up to mother's. Noah has begun upon 
the deer, has skinned six. Mrs. Risdon is not well these days. Feel some bet- 
ter myself. 

7th. Moderate weather. Seth, Jr., Abbott and Eben Wright here draw- 
ing wood for me, drew four drafts. Mr. Cooledge finished my hovel. Been 
up to mother's. Weighed ofFmy venison for Mr. Bowker, 412^ pounds, for 
Eben Wright his one-quarter part for drawing it in 178 pounds. There re- 
main 123 pounds, which I will dispose of. Mrs. Risdon and Lucy rode out 
this afternoon. 

8th. Weather moderate. Been at work about my house mending it up, 
etc. Mr. Bowker here after venison. He gave me his note for gio in money 
and an order on Mr. Smith for goods out of his store in Potsdam for §21. 88. 
Judge Hopkins's land has been sold to-day at auction. John Perry been here 
to-day, wants I should pay his tax. Been over to village, quite a collection of 
people. 

9th. Sunday, been to meeting. Heard there is to be a wedding this 
evening at Esq. Abbott's. Been over to setde with J. Henderson, collector. 
Receipted as town clerk ^46 on his warrant. I receipt for G. Sheldon ^6.31, 
for John Perry Ji2.8i, for"'D. Kennedy 78 cents that have not been accounted 
for to me. There is due me from John Henderson $ I , which he has agreed to 
pay to the tailor at Mr. Laughlin's. 

20th. Clear, pleasant weather. Been up to mother's, talk of going to 
Potsdam to-morrow. E. and R. Post here this evening. Think it best to go 
to Potsdam in a cutter. Ai Powers out from Potsdam with his wife and chil- 
dren. Eben Wright was married last evening to Miss Rhome Abbott by J. 
Sanford, Esq. 

1 1 th. Been to Potsdam to-day with Lucy Post. Mrs. Risdon and Mary 
rode as far as Mr. Covey's. Traded at Griffin & Smith's J21.81. Old Mr. 
Peck, Nathan Peck and Mr. Kennedy out there. John Kent of Stockholm is 
sick. Loren Chubb is here cutting wood. 



294 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

I 2th. Not well to-day. Keep the house pretty much. 

13th. Been over to village. Settled with S. Wead, owed him J11.93. 
Heard Mr. Peas is dead, died in Ogdensburg, is to be buried in Potsdam to- 
morrow in Masonic order. 

14th. Wholesome winter weather. Been up into the woods to see if I 
can get to the hunting camp. Saw two deer, wanted my gun. Lucy Post here 
this afternoon. Samuel and J. D. Abbott here also. Wrote a bond for a deed 
for them and some notes. 

15 th. Been up to my hunting camp after some articles I had there, killed 
two deer. A severe day's task, the snow is so deep. 

1 6th. Sunday, pleasant, though cold. Mrs. Risdon gone to meeting. 

1 7th. The snow has fallen about nine or ten inches. Harmon has not 
returned from school, feel some concerned about him. Think it likely he stays 
in the village. Mrs. Risdon been washing to-day, is now coloring black. 

1 8th. Reuben Post here, wants some money for Lucy. Mr. Laughlin 
with two yoke of oxen breaking roads. Been over to Mr. Johnson's to dinner, 
to Mr. Covey's for some bags and several other errands in the village. Learned 
that Harmon stayed at Mr. Hopkins's last night. He came home with me. 
Brought home a pair of shoes for Mary. Samuel Abbott and E. Post here this 
evening. Read several little pamphlets or school acts. 

19th. Been to see Seth Abbott, Jr. He says he will draw me some 
wood to-morrow. The snow is deep. Been over to village, to Mr. Seeley's 
and to Mr. Johnson's. 

20th. Pleasant, thaws some on the south side of buildings. Eben Wright 
and Seth Abbott, Jr., here drawing wood. Lucy Post here with a cutter. 
Been up into the woods after my gun. Not well, the cold weather does not 
agree with me. Samuel Abbott gone to Mr. Bowker's after grain. 

2 1 St. Weather moderate. Sanford Roburds here after tallow, had six 
pounds. P. and J. Durfey and D. Covey with six yoke of oxen along here 
breaking roads. Been over to village. Mr. J. Henderson presented me with 
two orders signed by the tailor of nine dollars. Heard the people from Parish- 
ville came out here to break roads with nine or ten yoke of cattle. Been to Mr. 
Seeley's with a cheese. John Thomas here from Ogdensburg. [This is very 
good proof that Mr. Risdon was then living on the Potsdam road. As Messrs. 
Durfey and Covey lived west of him and were breaking road to the village, they 
would not go over on the Turnpike to break roads. — Ed. j 

2 2d. Kept the house pretty much to-day reading newspapers. Took care 
of my cattle, etc. Harmon has been to the west school. 

23d. Been to meeting. Heard Israel Sheldon is in from Vermont. Mr. 
and Mrs. Mosher here this evening. Israel Sheldon here likewise, wants the 
money that I owe him. 

24th. Israel Sheldon stayed with me last night. Been up to Mr. 
Green's and to Mason meeting. 

25th. Loren Chubb here cutting wood, he bought my boots. 

26th. Moderate winter weather. Been to Mr. Eastman's. 

27th. Samuel Abbott set out for Vermont the 25th. 

28th. Rather cool. Susan Covey here to-day. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 



295 



29th. Lee Eastman brought me thirteen deerskins. Mr. Baldwin and Sam- 
uel Eastman, Jr., here. People complain of a distemper among their horses 
and cattle. Not well to-day. 

30th. Sunday, been to meeting. Cool, chilly weather. 

31st. Loren Chubb and his father here drawing wood. Reuben Post here 
says his or their horses and cattle begin to show symptoms of the distemper that 
is about. Hear John Kent is about moving to Vermont. 

February i . Severe cold weather ; keep the house ; not well, nor is Mrs. 
Risdon. Harmon at school. 

2d. Very cold, snows some. No person in to-day. We are all sick. 

3d. Elias Post here, says his horses and cattle are sick with the distemper 
that is about. He says Reuben and Noah are sick. A gentleman is here from 
Canada, bought a knife from him. 

5th. Severe cold. Mrs. Risdon sick with phthisic, and has a severe turn 
OS it. 

6th. Sunday, high winds. Been to meeting. Mr. Clark from Ontario 
County preached. 

7th. Been over to the village, paid John Henderson nineteen cents. 

9th. Loren Chubb here cutting wood at the door. 

loth. Moderate weather. Samuel Abbott and wife here. 

I Ith. Mrs. Risdon gone to village with butter to Seeley's. 

I 3th. Samuel Abbott gone to Ogdensburg. Beautifiil weather for the sea- 
son. 

March. Cold and stormy mostly through the month. 

April. The first days of April pretty cold, though the month of April may 
be said with propriety to have been a pleasant one. The fields afforded sufficient 
feed about the middle of the niontli for sheep. Cows have wanted hay to the 
latter part. I have fifteen lambs from my ewes this month which are alive. My 
health is not good this spring. 

May. The latter part of this month has been rather cold and stormy. 
Good weather for grass and wheat. Sheared my sheep on the 29th. People 
have in general mostly finished their spring's work. 

June 30. The weather this month has been remarkably fine, warm with 
some showers, rather dry if anything. 

July 15. The weather this month very warm and dry. Some people 
have begun to cut grass. Grass is in general rather light, corn looks well. I 
have killed five deer at this date this season. 



The Year 1832 — Champion J., Son of Erastus Reeve, works for him at $JJ per 
Month — Mrs. David Covey dies. 

December 1. Champin J. Reeve begins work for me for one year at ;Jli i 
per month. He is to have 532 out of the store and such things as we have to spare 
out of the house ; ^47 in grain in the month of June, 1833. Paid him ^53 in 
a pair of three-year-old steers. [Hereafter he calls Mr. Reeve, C. or 

Champin. — Ed.] 

2d. Sunday, Harmon and Clarinda gone to meeting. 



296 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

4th. Killed four hogs, Elias assisted. Stephen sick. Mrs. Risdon over 
to D. Covey's. Mrs. C. sick. Harmon and I cut pork in the evening. 

6th. Mrs. C. no better. Boys kill a beef to-day. Harmon and Mary 
gone over to David Covey's. Mrs. C. not expected to live. 

7th. Mrs. Covey died about six o'clock last evening. Mrs. R. came 
home at ten this morning. Been at work making stable for cattle. Moderate 
winter weather. The stage on runners this morning. 

9th. Attended the funeral of Mrs. Covey. Mr. Brainard of Potsdam 
preached the sermon. Mary and Clarinda at Mr. Kent's this evening. The 
rain yesterday has spoiled the sledding. [Mr. and Mrs. David Covey were 
then living a half mile or more west of Samuel Abbott, now John Leach, in a 
log house which stood near the present house of Michael Conner. David Covey, 
Samuel Abbott and Elisha Risdon married sisters. — Ed.] 

loth. Drew manure at the other place. [Must still have been keeping 
stock at the old place on north road. — Ed.] Merritt and Fisk assisted. Har- 
mon and Mary down to Ira Smith's on a visit. 

The Year I&33 — Qarinda spinning Tow at Eleven Years — Buys a Canadian Hoe 
— People talk of going to Illinois — Watching Fires in Logging Fields — Stage 
full — Judge Fine calls on him — Take Cattle to Ogdensburg — Dr. Rosea 
Brooks's Settlement in Town — SealingMeasures — Crop the Wings of the 
Geese — Mr. Abbott's Horse has " Black Tongue." 

April 6. Pleasant. Survey land for E. Seeley, Phelps and Warner. 

7th. Sunday. H. C. and Clarinda at meeting. 

8th. Phineas Durfey here. Wants I should assist in finding the Centre 

road. [The road by Judge Sanford's was called the middle road. He 
may refer to the western end or part of it. — Ed.] 

9th. Been with commissioner of highways to-day. Boys made sugar in 
the forenoon. Harmon ploughed in the orchard. 

10th. Began to plough and sow wheat. Asahel Kent paid me six shillings 
in wheat on Moses Kent's account, also paid me five shillings for a drag. 

I Ith. Boys at work ploughing and sowing wheat. M. Fisk and myself 
peeling hemlock logs. Mary returned in the stage to Parishville. Julia Hum- 
phrey here. 

1 2th. Been with commissioner of highways nearly to Mr. Meacham's. 
D. Merritt and Mr. Fisk worked for me this afternoon. 

I 3th. Champin and Harmon gone for their training. D. Merritt and old 
Mr. Fisk chopped logs for me to-day. 

14th. Sunday, clear and cold. Quite a snowstorm about noon. Harmon 
at meeting. 

I 5th. Clear and cold. Cleared out our road over the brook. Finished 
dragging wheat. R. Smith here to-day. I. D. Stark here. Saw two deer in 
the lot. Clarinda spinning tow. [She was then not quite eleven years of age. 
— Ed.] 

1 6th. Mr. Kent has a son born. Let old Mr. Smith have ten bushels of 
oats. Lucy Smith here, stays all night. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 



297 



17th. Boys at Julius Peck's mill drawing off cherry boards and hemlock 
logs on the log way. 

1 8th. Warmer. Boys ploughing orchard. Boiled sap myself. E. and 
R. Post drew up sap. 

19th. Pleasant. Drive my two-year-olds down to the other place. Gath- 
ered my sap tubs. Asahel Kent broke my steelyards. 

2 2d. Monday. Champin and myself chopped logs over the brook. 
Harmon drawing boards from sawmill, also sowing flax. Messrs. Norris and 
McAfEty here to-day. Mary came home from Parishville. 

23d. Cool this morning. Sold I. R. Hopkins three bushels of oats, $i, 
and R. Lawson one bushel three pecks, 50 cents. Been to D. McAfRty. 
Bought a Canadian hoc, price three shillings and sixpence. 

Z4th. Cold. Caleb Wright here. Gave my note to commissioners of 
schools for ^247. 49. My cows do not have hay enough. 

26th. Pleasant, though cool. Boys at I. R. Witherill's at a raising. 
People talk much of going to Illinois these days. 

28th. Sunday, warm and pleasant. Been to meeting. 

29th. Warm and dry. Went to Parishville in afternoon as witness, rode 
with J. Smith. Let Ira Smith have five bushels of rye corn. Bought a coat, 
vest and pantaloons of A. Collins, ^17.50. 

May I. Surveyed for H. Alien. J. S. Roberts here. Let him have 
four bushels of oats. Bought a hoe of Mr. Humphrey. 

2d, 3d, 4th. Cool and dry. Burnt my log heaps. Sowed rye and 
dragged it in. Watching fires to keep it out of Mr. Kent's woods. 

5th. Sunday, been to meeting. Elder Green preached. R. Hopkins 
and his sister here in evening. A. Rasey here, is better of his lameness. 

7th. Sowing, ploughing, dragging and logging. Grass grows slowly. 

9th. Champin gone to mill with five bushels of rye, two of corn. Has 
R. S. Witherill's wagon. Mary at Mr. Witherill's. 

loth. Windy. Watching my fires. Two young ladies from Parishville here. 

I Ith. Rains this morning. Champin gone to village with drag teeth and 
Harmon with skins. The young ladies could not ride in the stage home to 
Parishville as it was full. Harmon takes young ladies home in the afternoon. 
Mrs. R. and Mrs. Post gone to Parishville on a visit and also to meeting. Jones 
of Parishville been here to buy land. 

13th. Mrs. R. returned from Parishville. 

14th. Rhoda Kent here. Mr. Johnson wants me to do some surveying 
in the village. Peter Post took tea with me. J. Sanford, Esq., up to Remington's. 

I 5 th. Planted corn all day. Trees now put forth their leaves. Fields 
look green. Warm growing time. 

17th. Warm day. Champin went over to S. C. Remington's after a 
half bushel of grass seed. 

19th. Sunday, pleasant. All at meeting. Elder Green preached. 

20th and 2 2d. Been up to A. Remington's after nine quarts seed corn. 
Planting corn and potatoes. Mary rode to Parishville on the stage. Set fence 
over the brook. 



298 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

29th. Judge Fine here. Been with him collecting cattle of William 
Short's settlers. 

30th. Judge Fine left this morning. Paid me ^2.00 to defray the expense 
of driving cattle to Ogdensburg. Champin slashing on the side hill. J. Hart 
and W. Humphrey here, also R. S. Witherill in evening. Wrote H. Allen, 
Esq., of Potsdam. 

31st. Cool, clear weather. Wing, Lenno, S. Remington and a young 
man from Stockholm. Not well myself. Planted some corn. 

June I . Cool weather. Champin and I planted corn where the hills 
were missing. Benjamin Reeve here to-day. Also Cautius C. Covey. Har- 
mon washed sheep to-day. A. Kent sheared his sheep. 

2d. Sunday, cold rain. Nathan Peck called. E. Brooks and Gibson 
here to dinner. 

3d. Received of Asahel Kent twenty-five cents for John Shields. 

4th. Hobart here to-day. Harmon to Z. Culver's with butter. 

5th. Pleasant. Champin and Mr. Hobart set off this morning with 
cattle to Judge Fine in Ogdensburg. Hobart has five shillings per day. Har- 
mon went as far as J. Hart's. I went as far as Parishville. Harmon sheared 
sheep. Borrowed twenty-five cents of R. S. Witherill and gi.oo of Julius 
Peck. Let Champin have ^3.62^ for expense money. A. Collins had four 
bushels of potatoes. 

6th. Pleasant. E. Post attends to my calves, lambs and pigs. Harmon 
and myself been down to the other place picking up stuff around the barn and 
house. [Surely the barn and old log house were standing then. — Ed.] Joseph 
Durfey, Nathaniel Baldwin and R. Post here to-day. 

7th. At work on the road, old Mr. Fish and A. Collins on my account. 
Been to B. Reeve's surveying his farm. Mrs. Wright and Mrs. Abbott here 
to-day. R. S. Witherill wants a sheep mark recorded. 

8th. Champin home from Ogdensburg. The brown cow and calf had 
of Mr. Richardson he left on the way which he drove back to Mr. Richardson. 
He received of Miss Fine fifty cents. Spent in the trip JJ4. 1214 cents. 
Sold Martin Blair a black cow. Received of him Julius Peck's note for grain 
in the winter for 2519.64 for the cow by paying back to him ^1 in butter or 
cheese this summer. Mary gone to watch with J. Peck's wife. 

9th. Rained last night and snowed this morning. Clear and cold. 
Champin and Harmon gone to meeting. 

loth. Cold for June. Martin Blair here after a cow I sold him. 

I Ith. Returned to Elias Post thirty-four pounds of borrowed salt. 

1 2th. Joshua Murray paid me $1, twenty-five cents more than he 
owed on account of making change. 

13th. In afternoon at Mr. Kent's raising barn. Shooting squirrels my- 
self. Mrs. Peck, Mrs. Remington and Mr. and Mrs. Abbott here to tea, 
Mrs. A. and Mrs. R. all night. 

14th. Sold to H. Dewey the I ith ult. the cow and calf which Judge Fine 
bought of Mr. Richardson for $iy, provided Judge Fine does not send for her 
in the month of January next. In the afternoon boys at the village firing the 
big gun. 

1 5th. Shooting squirrels. They pull corn like witches. Grain costs 
me all it is worth to raise. Clarinda at work at the wheel spinning. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 



299 



[She was eleven years of age June 23, 1833. — Ed.] Afternoon been to 
McAffity's, surveying. Brought home a puppy. Harmon been over to vil- 
lage with twenty-two pounds butter to Zoraster Culver's. 

17th. Harmon with team at the sawmill for E. Post. Shot four 
squirrels. Have the rheumatism. 

1 8th. Mary over to David Covey's. Joseph Durfey and A. Remington 
here. 

19th. Harmon and Champin slashing. Jonah Sanford, Isaac Snell here. 

20th. Rained some. Been over to Deacon Moon's surveying for him and 
S. Abbott. Been over to village, bought of C. S. Chittenden one pound 
lead. T. Lyon here, took our wool to card. 

2 1 St. A teamster put up all night, paid thirty-seven and a half cents. 
The squirrels pull my corn. 

2 2d. Paid Mr. Witherill twenty-five cents that I had borrowed. Har- 
mon to village with butter to Chittenden's, twenty pounds. 

zjd. Mrs. R. H. and Ciarinda been to meeting. At six o'clock went 
up into lot after cows. The pastures are all white with clover and send forth a 
pleasant odor. In the evening at Peter Post's. Mr. and Mrs. Post are pleas- 
ant people to visit with. 

2 5th. Looked over accounts with N. Rasey. After he had paid C. S. 
Chittenden $2 and Z. Culver sixty cents he will owe me §5.29. Champin 
been down to I. R. Hopkins's mills. Mary making pantaloons for Champin. 

z6th. Been up after D. Fisk to work, not at home. Harmon at work 
with team for Mr. Rasey. H. Kennedy's son brought home my yoke bows 
and irons. Old Mr. " Tubney " here. 

27th. Boys off to training. Let Champin have ^i.i2i^ in money. 
Art. Kent here with the cow. 

2 8th. Cold, cloudy. Been up to Fisk's and Roberts's. Roberts thinks 
he shall not sign his contract for land he lives on. 

2gth. More pleasant. A. Rasey helping me level the brush and logs in 
the slash so that cattle may feed about at better advantage. 

30th. Warmer and windy. Harmon, Mary and Ciarinda at meeting. 
Camp meeting of Methodists at Parishville. 

July 1. Over at the village making jury list. Received of Asa Sheldon 
by Asa Durrell ^10 in money. Aurelius Remington brought me eighteen 
pounds veal. Great complaint of corn not doing well this season. 

2d. Warm. Asa Kent and wife down to Ira Smith's to-day. 

28th. Sunday, myself, Harmon, Mary and Ciarinda been to meeting. 
Miss Latney here to tea. Martin Green here after meeung. 

29th. Boys at work for E. Post on barn. Mr. Mason and B. Rider 
mowed for me. A sleek looking gentleman called on me. 

30th. Rainy morning. Sealed three measures for R. S. Witheri!!. Zo- 
raster Culver here with two bonds. 

31st. Haying at the other place. Mr. Mason's son with us at twenty 
cents per day. 

August I . Mowed grass with my coat on to keep warm. 

2nd. Drew two loads of hay from around the old house and put into the 
new barn. Deacon Warner's meadows are so wet he cannot cut the grass. Mother 
Post came here to-night. 



300 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

3d. We used two yoke of oxen in drawing hay. Champin and I car- 
ried the flax into the barn. Mother Post went home. Eli Squire called on 
me to-day for land. 

4th. Sunday, warm. All but Mrs. R. and Mary been to meeting. 

6th. Showery day. Mended the old log way and hung the grindstone. 
Very wet haying time. 

9th. Rainy. Jonah Sanford, Asa Sheldon, David Covey and Goodnow 
here. 

loth. Pleasant day. Gould, Wing and Mitchell here, paid me twelve 
shillings for doing some writing. Jesse Smith and wife here, took dinner. 
Drawn seventeen loads of hay at this date, think a ton to each load. 

llth. Sunday, all at the meeting but myself. Elder Green preached. 

1 2th. Cloudy, showery. Washed the calves in soap to kill lice and 
drove them to the other place. Never a wetter hay time. Shall not have 
half a crop of wheat, due to blast and smut. 

13th. T. P. and his lady from Vermont. Dr. Hosea Brooks and his 
lady and Miss Green here to dinner. Bought three sheep of Mr. Rasey at 
^3.50. Paid Julius Peck $1 which I borrowed. Lame with rheumatism in 
shoulder. [Dr. Hosea Brooks came from Shoreham, Vt., and settled in Hop- 
kinton in I 8 19, where he lived five years. A part or all this time was on the 
farm now owned by Loren Smith. He then moved to Stockholm for three 
and a half years and then to Parishville village where he died in 1853. He 
kept a hotel there and practised as a physician to a limited extent. I do not see 
from diary or in any other way that he practised while in Hopkinton. The late 
Erasmus D. Brooks of Potsdam was his son. — Ed.] 

November 5. This is the second day of election held at the village. Mary 
came from Parishville at night with Lucy Phelps. 

6th. Last day of election held at the stone house. Not a great excite- 
ment in the minds of the people. S. Merritt assisted in logging to-day. Received 
of Gaius Sheldon twelve and a half cents for writing a letter. 

9th. Stone takes the stage for home. His foot so lame he cannot work. 
Mary gone with Mrs. Post to Parishville. Mrs. Hawthorn is dead, will be 
buried Sunday, the loth. R. 8. Witherill has my cart to draw dirt. S. Rich- 
ards and Harvey here to-day. 

loth. Clear and windy. Harmon gone to funeral at Parishville. 
Clarinda at Mr. Post's with their children. S. P. Covey here in the evening 
and all night. 

1 2th. S. Richard and Jasper Brownell here in the evening. The sur- 
veyor here last evening is going to township No. 19, in Franklin County. I 
think he will have a cold time of it. Cut timber in afternoon for stable, D. 
Merritt helping us. 

I 7th. Sunday, Harmon, Mary and Clarinda at meeting. Rhoda here. 

I 8th. Snow fell last evening and to-day. Julius Peck and B. Merritt 
here. D. Merritt has my gun to-day. Solomon Chittenden sent a young man 
here after my steers. Harmon drives the young cattle from the other place. 
He says Chittenden has taken the steers and at the price they were appraised the 
last day of October by A. Warner and P. Mosher, that is $40, and get me the 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 301 

note I gave Ira Smith in July, 1832, for ^35. 50. When I was hunting I was 
in the woods such days as this. Young people at Parishville. 

I9th-Z3d. Getting out timber for and building stable. Nathan Peck 
has my gun to use awhile. E. Post lays out the work for stable. Harmon 
assisted a gentleman up the hill. [What was known as the Big Hollow was a 
few rods east of his residence.] Mrs. Hobart the schoolmarm here. Wither- 
ill and Colonel Sanford here in the evening. Russell Squire assisted on stable. 

24th. Been to meeting. Mr. Packard preached. 

25th. Harmon at debating school in evening. Aurelius Remington here, 
has taken Mr. Nathan Peck in behalf of the people for assault and battery. Peck 
and Remington do not appear to live amicably together. 

z6th. Assisted Deacon Aaron Warner raising a stable. 

27th. Assisted Isaac Snell raising. Peck and Remington trial in the 
evening. Settled by people paying Peck ^7.50. Aurelius Remington has my 
mare to ride to Parishville Lower Falls. 

2 8th. Colonel Jonah Sanford wishes me to make a plat of the Short tract. 

29th. Killed six hogs and a beef. Hogs weighed 1,240 pounds, beef 
weighed 538 pounds. 

December 1—4. J. D. Rider and Mr. Oliver here making shingles, 
shaved till nine o'clock in evening. Harmon split and Stone held the candle. 
At Julius Peck's raising barn. Peck has many raisings of milldams, flumes, etc. 

5th. Harmon, Mary and Clarinda at Reuben Post's in the afternoon. 
Thanksgiving supper. 

6th. Sealed two measures for Mr. Beecher. 

7th. Rider has worked six days and five evenings, for which I allow him 
$^.^0. He works quick and is a good hand to hire. 

9th. Snow a foot deep. Peter Post will sell me a cutter. 

loth— I 2th. A. Rasey here chopping. Adeline Peck assisted the women. 
Stone and Harmon fanned up four and three-fourths bushels of rye. 

13th. Cold day. Harmon gone to mill at Parishville with four and three- 
fourths bushels of rye, three of corn and three of wheat. Caleb Wright and 
Colonel Sanford called. Cropped the geese's wings. 

15th. Sunday, cold. Two of Stone's brothers called on their way to 
meeting. Harmon attends lecture by J. G. Smith. 

December 16-24. Now stable all my cattle, old and young. Read 
the President's message. P. R. Post chopping for me. Broke his axe. Mary 
commences school, boards at E. Post's. Polk is teacher at the stone house. 
Mary Shields from Malone. Harmon gone to R. Lawrence's with oxen to be 
shod. I. R. Hopkins returns surveying instruments which his son had for use 
in school. Harmon and Mary go with young people to Parishville. He bor- 
rowed cutter from Dr. Gideon Sprague. Settled with John Roburds, due him 
§2.48 in grain this winter. William Eastman and Moses Kent here. 

z5th— 31st. Drawing wood to Mr. Culver. Lewis Chandler wants his sur- 
vey bill. Mrs. Remington waded down here through the snow, says Mr. R. 
is sick. Harmon goes for the doctor for her. Protracted meeting at Parishville. 
Samuel B. Abbott hereafter Mother Post. His horse has the black tongue. 
The school is out on the Turnpike. 



302 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 



The Year J834 — Drunken Indians call — Nathan Peck brings a Load of Corn to 
Thrash on his Floor — Neighbors come to grind their Ajces — Trap catches a 
Sheep instead of a Fox, by the Nose — Mr. Risdon served Twenty-one Years 
in succession as Town Clerk — Splitting Oven Wood, used with a Fireplace — 
Difficulty in Church at ParishviUe — Artemus Kent and John Henderson join 
the Church — Engage Rev. Charles Bowles, a Mulatto, as Pastor — The Story 
of his Father ana Son — William Humphrey goes to Ohio — Snow fell to a 
Depth of Eight Inches May J2-J4 — Judge Fine in Town — Harmon bleeds his 
Oxen — Do not use Liquor — Women spinning Wool — Picking Geese — Abigail 
Kent marries Nathaniel Goodnow — Death of Mrs. Gideon Sprague — Men 
use too much Liquor — Digs Well near Corner of his House — Chittenden drives 
Cattle to Market — Baptists hold Protracted Meeting at East Village— Death of 
Elias Moon — Samuel Eastman hurt by a Bull — Draws Shingle Nails from 
Roof of Old House — King S. Hawthorn of ParishviUe addicted to Drink — 
Roof Boards taken from Old Log House on Potsdam Road — Black Leg among 
Cattle — Surveying at ParishviUe — Two Full Cords a Day's Work — Troubled 
with Smoke in the House — Thinks best to get a Stove — Story of the Cook 
Stove by Editor. 

January 1-5. W. M. Gould here for a mortgage. Harmon gone up to 
W. Wing's for nine shillings he owed me. Solon Covey, young Baldwin and 
E. Post here. 

z6th-3ist. Cold weather. Been to S. Clark's and Dewey's for grain. 
Sealed a half bushel for Stephen Reeve. Mother Post here these days. Mrs. 
Green at A. Kent's. Clarinda at school. She and Huldah Kent put up at Mr. 
Laflin's last night. W. M. Gould here with a deed. Two drunken Indians 
here last night, made crooked tracks. 

February 1-6. Peter and Reuben Post here. Read Calhoun's speech on 
the removals of the deposits from the National Bank. Rode with Ira Smith on 
his way to ParishviUe as far as J. Hart's. Got Mr. Gould's wife to sign deed 
of land to L. Knowles of Potsdam. A poor man put up with us over night. 
N. Peck brings a load of corn to thrash on my barn floor. Reading speeches in 
Congress on the removal of public deposits from the United States Bank. Nathan 
and Orlean Peck and E. Post here grinding axes. Frederick Sprague, Thads. 
H. Laughlin and his sister Mary here. 

7th- 1 ith. Nathan Peck gone to East Village mill. A. Kent's cattle have 
the black tongue. Hot debating in Congress these days. Sealed three half 
bushels, one for G. P. Tarset at twenty cents, one for Joel Gould twelve and one- 
half cents, and one for Nathan Peck fifteen cents. 

I2th-i8th. Clear and cold. E. Lenne gone to ParishviUe mill, took 
two and one-half bushels of corn for me. My wheat is poor, only top thrash it. 
Counting seed and labor my wheat has cost ^3 per bushel. Mother Post with 
us these days. Harmon caught in his trap, instead of a fox, one ol my best 
ewes by the nose. Mr. McLaughlin has returned from Vermont, has married 
Huldah Kent for his second wife, a very good woman. Mary tells me that 
Mr. Lawrence is badly hurt by a fall, and also that James Flanders is dead. S. D. 
Rider, W. M. Gould and Mr. Witherill here on the i8th. Mr. Gould will 
buy the Hawkins farm. 

I9th-z8th. Mild, springlike weather. I hear sap run well on the 
20th. Mr. Gould paid me $2 in money on the Hawkins farm. Solon Covey, 
A. Remington, W. M. Gould and J. Hart here. Elias Post had a son born 
on the zist. Borrowed ^23 in money of Lee Eastman. I shall pay the same 
to commissioner common schools. Snow is all off the fields 23d. Peter Merrill 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 303 

will not sign his contract for land at present. Clarinda expects to make her for- 
tune gathering rye smut. Over to village auditing accounts of the town, 25th 
and 26th. Paid Jacob Phelps ^23 on my note. Mr. Snell has lost an infant 
child. Got at Chittenden's store thirty yards of cotton cloth at ^4.37, to be paid 
in butter in the spring. Mr. Merritt has left his farm. A man from the East 
Village (Nicholville) will buy it. Been up with him to view it. Paid Merrill, 
the merchant, ^1.25 for shovel, and Mr. Hawthorn J3.25 for salt. Harmon 
took two hides to Mr. Erwin, the tanner, in Parishville. 

March. Moderate weather. Samuel Richards here and we balanced ac- 
counts. John Sanford Roburds is leaving his farm in the woods. [He was a 
son of Eli Roburds, a pioneer. The name is so given in the diary and on all old 
maps. When or how it was changed to Roberts I cannot say. — Ed.] Town 
meeting on the 4th. I have served twenty-one years as clerk of the town in 
succession. Elias Post was elected to-day as clerk. Wrote a bond and oath of 
office for John Henderson, constable. [Father of John H. and David F. Hen- 
derson.] Mr. Leonard of Parishville wants land over the river near Goss's 
mill. Sealed half bushel for E. Post. He took town papers and books. 
Maryba Green [Mrs. David Daggett of Potsdam, N. Y.] and Miss Converse 
here. Making sugar loth. Sealed measure for Philip Mosher. I split oven 
wood and Clarinda carried it into the house ; she wished me to record it. 
Misses Green and Converse return home by stage. A mad dog has been through 
the town, bit several dogs and was killed in Lawrence. Mrs. R. watching 
with Mrs. Isaac Snell who is sick. Clarinda and I picked a sheep. Settled 
with Mr. Stone for his year's work, am to pay him $66 in grain in January next 
and my note for ^20 in money, and another for ^46 in grain in January, 1836. 
Mr. Talbot here with Mr. Spaulding's account for Mary's tuition, board, room, 
etc., J10.19, and his, Mr. Talbot's, account for French books, ^3. My ac- 
count against them nearly balances the same. Joseph B. Durfey here, carried 
Mary to meeting the 26th. As I have been apprehensive, there is some difficulty 
in the church. Have had seven in the family the past winter, all but Mother 
Post I expect will labor for a livelihood. [Mr. Durfey now living at Parishville, 
N. Y.— Ed.J 

April. Rhoda Kent here all night 1st. Clarinda watched with Mrs. 
Snell. Mrs. R. and Mary making candles. Made in all three hundred sixty 
pounds of sugar. Cautius C. Covey is now in Canada. Mr. Phelps offers ^60 
for my oxen. J. D. Rider agrees to work half the time for eight months, /'. e., 
every other week. I am to pay him J16 per month. R. Hopkins and Fred- 
erick Sprague and their sisters here the 7th. I hear Truman Covey is dead. 
Mother Post has left us. Clarinda spinning tow. Been this afternoon after a 
hatchel. Been getting out some flax, made poor work of it. 

April. Mary watched last night with Mrs. Snell. I. R. Hopkins was 
elected justice of the peace. Sowing and dragging on the 1 Ith. Did not stable 
cows last night, so mild 14th. Rev. Sin, our new minister, called on me. 
Moses Kent called on his way to meeting. New minister preaches well. 
Clarinda and myself been after cowslips, saw two deer 21st. Been surveying 
for Mr. Hobart and Sheldon. D. Fisk has two pounds of butter and a piece 
of pork for a broom. Surveying for H. Allen, Esq., fee ;gl.5o. My half of 
fence with Deacon Warner is on the north end, that on the south end in the 
woods we repair together. J. N. Hobart takes the south part of the D. B. 



304 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Walker farm at ^2.87 per acre. Art. Kent and John Henderson, with others, 
join the Congregational Church the 27th. Mr. and Mrs. Green, Mr. and 
Mrs. Lyon out from Parishville. Been to society meeting, arranging to hire 
the Rev. Mr. Bowles. 

[I have with some effort learned quite a little as to the Bowles family. 
There were three of them by the name of Charles, and elderly people seem to 
be considerably mixed and confused as to them, no doubt on this accoimt. 
The life of the elder Charles Bowles was published in 1852 by Messrs. Ingalls 
& Stowell of Watertown, N. Y., which volume is loaned me by Charles B. 
Willis, Esq., of West Parishville, N. Y. From this I learn that he was born in 
Boston, Mass., in 1761. At an early age he became an exhorter and soon 
after an elder of the Freewill Baptist faith. His main field of work for some 
years was northern Vermont. 

His son, Charles, was a clergyman and took the pastorate of the Congre- 
gationalist Church in Hopkinton in 1834. According to this book the son 
visited the father in Vermont in 1837, and seeing the great work his father was 
doing there prevailed on him to come over into St. Lawrence County, which he 
did, where and in Franklin he continued till his death. His first work was at 
Dickinson, which resulted in the organization of a church at a place called Burnt 
Hill. He preached wherever he could get a hearing, in schoolhouses and in 
groves in Lawrence, Hopkinton, Parishville and Pierrepont. Deacon John F. 
WiUis of Parishville took him into Pierrepont, where he held great revival meet- 
ings in the Howard schoolhouse and in the open air, people coming long dis- 
tances to hear him. 

Charles B. Willis, Esq., Mr. and Mrs. E. B. Gray of Crary's Mills heard 
him preach and well remember him. They say he was fiill six feet in height, 
and they should judge three-fourths negro, with a deep heavy voice and pos- 
sessed much magnetism and power as a speaker. He was then nearly blind and 
went from place to place on horseback, trusting to his faithfiil nag and stopping 
with those of his faith. Early in coming into this country he purchased the 
Tyler Gove farm southeast of Hopkinton village, now owned by Ace Willison, 
and placed his daughter, widow Preston, with her son and daughter in charge 
of it. Afterwards needing help, the officials of the town of Lawrence, feeling 
that she was not a rightful charge upon that town, engaged Zebina Coolidge and 
another to take her and her children to Malone. 

Mr. J. Henderson remembers a Mr. Bowles in town who preached. As 
he recalls, he lived in the Jasper Armstrong house and was a full half negro. 
This book states that the mother of the elder Bowles was a daughter of Colonel 
Morgan, making him only a half-blood negro. The elder Bowles preached now 
and then in the town. In 1842, being poor, his daughter went into the family 
of a friend to live, while he went to the rude home of a Mr. Fuller in or near 
Malone, where he died March 16, 1843. Charles Bowles the third was a finely 
built man and quite an athlete. He attended school at the old academy and 
was quite popular and bright. He taught school in the Abram district in 1837 
or 1838 and was a strict disciplinarian. Mr. Willis remembers seeing him 
throw Horace Flower out of an open window into the snow. As he recalls, his 
hair was black and curly, though his color did not show much negro. Ac- 
cording to Mr. Edward H. Abram he was about one-quarter negro. Jesse 
McAllister writes me that Rev. Charles Bowles, who preached in Hopkinton, died 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 305 

on his farm and was buried in East Pitcairn in 1850, that he was about half 
negro, that his son, Charles H. Bowles, and wife lived on the same farm, that 
he became insane some years ago and died at the county house. It is evident 
from all this that the pastor in Hopkinton must have shown quite a little negro 
blood, and it is a little singular that the diary does not mention it. I would not 
suppose the Democrats of those days, when the doctrine of slavery was so ram- 
pant, would have taken grace, devout as they were, from a colored gentleman. 
— Ed.] 

Clarinda still spinning tow. Mary watched at Mr. Snell's. Rev. 
Bowles called on us and prayed with us. Phile Jenne, Mrs. Jenne and daughter 
here. 

May I . White frost. Rhoda Kent here. Mary and Abigail at Mr. Phelps's. 

2d. Sowing grain. Waity Kent here spinning tow. Feed my cows 
three times a day with hay, have fed them steady for six months past. The 
young cattle and sheep pick their living. 

3d. Pleasant. Surveyed for M. Culver. Took dinner at A. Durrell's. 

4th. Sunday, all the family been to meeting. It is expected Mr. 
Bowles will preach with us a year. 

5th. Cloudy and windy. Boys clearing up burnt log heaps for plough- 
ing. Mary Covey gone home. She appears to be a fine young woman. Read 
J. Q. Adams's speech in the House. 

6th. Mrs. Risdon carding tow. Clarinda and Mary spinning. C. I. 
Reeve here. 

7th. Rains this morning. Witherill and Aaron Jenne here. 

8th. Women boiling out yarn. Have not fed my cows hay to-night. 

9th. Cool this morning. Clarinda and Huldah been up to Mr. Peck's. 

loth. Pleasant. Drive the yearlings to the other place. Been with 
Stone after pitch for tar. Mrs. R. picked geese. Mrs. Abbott and Janet Shields 
here all night. 

lith. Sunday, cold, cloudy. Mr. Bowles, our minister, has gone for 
his family, will be absent probably two Sabbaths. Mrs. Snell is better. She is 
at her father's. Went with Mary and Clarinda to conference, west district. 

I 2th. Cold morning, flakes of snow with rain. Women have the great 
kettle over the fire. [I take it this means the old-fashioned fireplace, not a 
stove.] Harmon takes a skin to Durrell's. Peter Post borrowed twenty-five 
cents of C. S. Chittenden to pay the postage before he could get my papers from 
the oflice. Read Seward's speech in Senate. 

13th. Snow has fallen about three inches and still snowing, 5 p. M. Raw 
weather. Cattle and sheep lowing about the fields. 

14th. Snows this morning. Have but a trifle of hay for my cattle. Mrs. 
Snell is worse, both doctors there. Noon, still continues to snow. Received 
my warrant as overseer of highways. William Humphrey has returned from 
Ohio for his family. The storm has increased since noon, 4 p. M. I never 
knew so severe a storm of snow at this season of the year, froze hard last night. 
Sundown, storm continues. My cows are all in stables. [William Humphrey 
married daughter of David Covey, and all trace of him or them is lost. He had 
a blacksmith shop a few rods just east of Joseph Durfey's residence. — Ed.] 

1 5th. Gloomy morning. Snow six inches in depth and quite cold. 
Harmon at Witherill' s after hay. 



3o6 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

1 6th. Pleasant, sun looks warm. Hard frost last night and the ground is 
covered with snow. Clarinda watched with Mrs. Snell. Joseph Durfey and 
others have gone up to assist Mr. Remington. Dressed some flax. Snow does 
not melt. Peter Post took a bushel of corn to Parishville mill for me. 

17th. Cold and cloudy. Snow still to be seen in fields. Deacon Warner 
and lady here. Mrs. Moses is dead. 

[Mr. John H. Henderson sends me an account of this storm which he 
found among his father's papers, which makes it still more severe. He states that 
it began in the evening of the 12th, that there were eight inches of snow on the 
morning of the 13 th and that at about noon on the 14th it began to snow again ; 
that on the morning of the i 5th the snow was twelve inches ; that icicles seven 
feet in length were seen hanging from eave spouts and that the snow did not 
wholly disappear till the I 7th. 

1 8th. Sunday, pleasant. Been with Mary, Harmon and Clarinda to 
meeting. Hear that Mrs. Flanders, the old lady, has made way with herself 
by hanging. Mrs. Jenne and her daughters take tea with us. 

19th. Pleasant morning. Phile Jenne here at work. Mr. Abbott's 
children here. Mrs. Hulburt been here. 

20th. Asahel Kent gone to Canton as a juror. The women whitewashed 
our rooms. Uncovered potatoes in the hole, nearly halt rotten. Rhoda had 
the mare to ride to village. 

22d. Mrs. Snell has left her father's, gone home. Judge Fine has come 
to collect cattle of Mr. Short's settlers. Went with him. Rasey, Jenne, 
Andrus and Witherill here to get their deeds for land. 

24th. Set off with the judge at 6 a. m., left him at J. Hart's. Harmon 
Laughlin here for pumpkin seed. Mr. Bowles has returned with his family, 
will probably preach to-morrow. 

25th. Sunday, all but Mrs. R. to meeting. 

26th. Pleasant. Harmon at M. Kent's for seed corn, got seven quarts. 
Clarinda at school for the first day near J. Peck's. Two young men, peddlers, 
put up for the night. 

27th. Finished planting corn and potatoes. Made a place to wash sheep. 
Drive old oxen to the other place. Have been in stable for seven months ; 
probably both yoke have consumed seven tons of hay and fifty bushels of potatoes. 

28th. Pleasant. Washed sheep. Mrs. Jenne and old Mrs. Rasey here. 
Mary gone to Mr. Snell's to watch. Eben Squire wants my mare to troop at 
the training. 

29th. Received of Mr. Erwin, the tanner, of Parishville, ^3.50 for 
hides. Rhoda and Abigail here. Harmon is sick. 

30th. Pleasant. W. M. Gould paid me gi on the Hawkins farm. 
Mr. Priest will buy the Hayden farm. Been to church meeting. Mrs. R. 
making soap these days. 

June I. Rider and R. Post shearing. Mrs. R., Rhoda, Abigail, Mary 
and Clarinda all at the barn picking wool. Ira Squire, Remington and Brownell 
here. Mrs. Snell lingers along. J. Goodell has lost a child, was burned. 
Mr. Green preached the sermon. 

3d. Mr. Green, his wife, two sons and Dr. Brooks's daughter took 
dinner with us on their way to Stockholm. Philip Mosher's daughter visit- 
ing Clarinda. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 307 

4th. Finished hewing for my new building. Harmon been to Parishville, 
notified settlers who turn out cattle to Mr. Short that they must be ready on Tues- 
day next. A. M. Hobart will go with them at seventy-five cents per day. 

5th. Rev. Bowies wishes some household furniture. Mary watching at 
Mr. Snell's. Mrs. R. finished her soap. 

6th. Harmon has bled his old oxen. [In those days the doctors bled 
people for nearly all troubles, and I suppose he thought it would work well on 
the oxen. — Ed.] 

7th. Harmon gets seven bushels of lime of J. Brush, am to pay for it in 
grain next winter. 

8th. Sunday. R. Abbott here. P. Post has returned from western 
journey. 

9th. Training day. Settled with Stone for labor, gave my note for 
$75-7S> payable in grain. Joseph Brown, it is feared, has consumption. 

loth. Hobart and Asa Sheldon take Mr. Short's cattle to Ogdensburg. 
I went as far as Parishville. Bought a hoe at Pea's store. 

I Ith. Colonel Sanford called for an assessment of property. E. Drake's 
daughter of twelve years, a fine little girl, has the consumption. 

I 2th. At work on the road. Mrs. Witherill and Mrs. Clark here. 

13th. Chilly, cold. Have a fire in the fireplace. [Being in June and 
only wanting a light fire, had he had a stove would he not have used it ! — Ed.] 
Cow got of N. Baldwin failed to reach Potsdam. 

I 4th. T. Dunn, an old acquaintance in Vermont, called on me to-day. 
Clarinda goes to Parishville by stage. 

I 5th. Sunday saw a deer crossing my field. Are well pleased with Mr. 
Bowles, our minister. 

1 6th. Wc use no spirits in the family in any way. Mr. Peck is laying 
out my new building. 

20th. |udge Sanford returns my compass and chain. Difficulty in the 
church at Parishville. Mr. Rider gone to Parishville in suit between Mr. Green 
and W. Stone. 

22d. J. B. Durfey, Mr. Collins, the schoolmarm and Julius Peck called. 

2 3d. John Tenno, N. and J. Peck, R. and E. Post raised my building. 

27th. Hoeing corn. Take butter to Chittenden, twelve pounds pork to 
R. Eastman and wool to Laughlin's machine with cart and oxen. Attended 
Mrs. Henderson's fhneral. 

]uly I. Women spinning wool. Some complaint of Clarinda' s spinning. 
[Is it any wonder ? She is only twelve years of age. — Ed.] Mr. Kent is 
framing a cow barn. A meeting at the village, Mr. Green out. 

2d. Pleasant. Bought a razor of a peddler for fifty cents. The laboring 
man adorns his nature. He is the chief ornament of nature, its noblest part. 
Nature is the outward throne of God himself. By cultivation man extends and 
polishes. 

3d. Mrs. Abbott and Mrs. Risdon go to their mother's. Reuben Abbott 
here after cannon. 

4th. Cool. Hear that Mrs. Gurley, Mrs. Potter and two children 
have died lately in Parishville. Young people gone to Potsdam for amusement. 

5th. Mr. Linendoll here, has lost cow, either stolen or strayed. 



3o8 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

6th. Sunday, pleasant. Mrs. Sprague is not expected to live, had a 
counsel of doctors to-day. 

9th. A terrific storm with hail. Broke window glass and killed our gos- 
lings. 

loth. Cooler. Women picking geese. Attended Mr. Kent's raising barn. 

14th. Clarinda spinning. Deacon Moon wants the Roberts place for his 
son Orange. Have about seventy acres to mow over, ten acres of rye, three of 
wheat and a small piece of oats. Friend Warner, Asa Sheldon and C. Reeve here. 

15th. Been down north surveying over the river for H. Allen, Esq., fee 
1^1.25. Harmon and Mary at Mrs. Drake's funeral. 

1 6th. Deacon Moon wants me to work on road or pay the money that I 
owe the town. Rhoda here sewing. 

1 8th. Have my building about finished. S. Clark raised his barn, had 
liquor and several got drunk. 

2 I St. Surveying for A. Sheldon and J. Brownell, seventy-five cents each. 
A. Squire and his three sons here. Mrs. Talbot is dead. 

2 2d. Haying at the other place near the old house. [Evidently still 
standing or he would not mention it. — Ed.] 

24th. E. Drake's daughter is dead. 

25th. Mary Shields here. Nathaniel Goodnow in town these days. 

27th. A wedding at Mr. Kent's, Abigail married to N. Goodnow. 
None of my family there. E. and R. Post and Asahel Kent give me the privi- 
lege of drawing hay across their field farther west than usual, which shortens the 
distance. 

31st. R. Post at work for R. Eastman on the building. Mowed grass 
opposite E. Mosher's. Mrs. Sprague died yesterday morning, to be buried to- 
morrow. 

August 1 . All at fijneral but myself. No use for spirituous liquor either in 
haying or in any other way. Can perform more work without it and have less 
broken rakes and other tools. 

2d. Haying near Deacon Aaron Warner's. 

4th. My hay is excellent. Women washing at the brook. [With excel- 
lent apparatus for washing, the most of us now send it out or hire it done. — Ed.] 

6th. Been to Mr. John Hart's with a web to weave. 

I Ith. Have fifteen or sixteen acres of grass cut at the other place. Been 
to the Goss settlement for help. Mr. Goodnow, his wife and Austin set off to- 
gether, Goodnow for Canada and Austin for the west. 

12th. Great exhibition of animals in Potsdam yesterday. 

13th. Isaac Snell and all hands reaping rye. Mr. Spaulding and Reuben 
Abbott here. 

I 5th. Surveying for Sprague, Laughlin and Chittenden at the village. 
Harriet Shields lives here. Finished reaping rye. 

19th. R. Post haying on the Green farm, took grass of Dr. Brooks. 
Mary washing at the brook. I carried down the clothes, made fire, etc. Wheat 
short. Boys think better be cradled. 

20th. Peter Post and his brother came to cradle about 9 a. m. They 
did not do much, had taken too much whiskey. Took dinner and went home. 

23d. Making a road through R. Kent's field to my rye. In moving 
some stone injured my foot. Collin drawing into the barn hay at the other 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 309 

place. Louis Hasbrouck of Ogdensburg is dead. [He and Judge John Fine 
were law partners from 181 5. — Ed.] John Post assisting us. Nathan Peck here 
with a load of rye and wheat to thrash in my barn, says Remington will not let 
him use his barn. 

24th. Sunday, been to meeting, no preaching. Mr. Bowles preaches 
in Lawrence to-day. 

zjth. Cool. A frost in some places last night. Harmon off warning 
people to the drill. Had two hundred shocks of rye. 

26th. Mrs. Snell, Mrs. Kent and Mr. and Mrs. Culver called. Sealed a 
half bushel for him. 

27th. Harmon off to officers' drill at Potsdam. Samuel Abbott, Mrs. 
Green and Martin Green here. 

28th. Haying at lower place, should have been cut before this. Mr. 
Ormsby and wife took dinner. J. Henderson and Mr. Culver called. Mr. 
Henderson, as constable, sold P. Post's property or part of it. 

29th. Mary Covey here on a visit. Clarinda at school these days. 
Drew two loads of hay home and three into the Httle barn. Rider agrees to 
dig and stone a well near the corner of my house for §20, I to fijrnish team. 
He takes cow at gl8 and grain $2. 

September i . Training day. 

3d. Clarinda has lost a schoolbook. Thrashing and cleaning rye and 
wheat. The wheat is so smutty it will have to be washed. 

4th. Mary gone with her cousins to her uncle Ira Smith's in Stockholm. 
D. Eastman caught a wolf yesterday. 

5th. Mrs. R. spinning. Mary making cheese. Cutting and burning 
brush in the hollow. 

7th. Sunday, been to meeting. The Methodists held meeting in the 
stone house, the Baptists at East Village. Dr. Laughlin's wife, Mr. Heath and 
his wife and daughter have joined the Congregational Church. 

8 th. Potatoes only half crop owing to dry weather. Mary washing at 
the brook. 

loth. Lent my gun to D. Fisk for training. Amanda Covey here. 

12th. Harmon off to training. Hard frost this morning. 

14th. Sunday, been to meeting. Mr. Bowles preached on infant 
baptism. A. Weed is in from Vermont. Art. Kent is lame from a falling log. 
Mrs. R. rode with Mrs. Kent as far as Mrs. Hart's, who is weaving for her. 

1 6th. Found two dead sheep, killed by wolves. Messrs. Weed, R. 
Kent, Laughlin, E. Post and their ladies, except Mrs. K., here, pleasant visit. 
Take cloth to the clothier at Parishvillc. Harmon gathered the apples at the 
lower place, about four bushels. Get brick from widow Sheldon, on note I 
hold against the estate. 

28th. Sunday, been to meeting. R. Pettibone is to lecture in town 

to-morrow evening. Curtis Sheldon has returned from . Clarinda at her 

uncle's spinning these days. 

October I . Burn some heaps over where I had rye. Rollin here, settled 
and balanced all accounts. Received a line from E. Hurlbut, wants pay for 
the Herald. C. S. Chittenden drives his cattle to-day, has taken my old oxen 
and three three-year-old steers at $100, to be paid in January next. 



3IO EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

3d. Warm. Husking corn in garden and orchard. Mr. Fitch, collector 
for the Spectator, here. Went out in afternoon with my gun, saw a deer. Quite 
amusing to once more traverse the woods where I have formerly hunted so 
much. Mrs. Rasey here. 

4th. Finished husking. Will have ninety bushels from one and a half acres. 

5th. Sunday, no one to meeting to-day. Two sheep missing. Have 
poor luck with sheep. 

6th. Preparing cellar in the shed house for potatoes. 

7th. Mr. Rasey and his two children at work for me. Mrs. R. and 
Clarinda at Stockholm. Mr. Rasey had six pounds of pork, was to have five 
pounds for day's work. N. Post and his little son here to-day. 

8th. Mary been to Mr. Hart's after cloth. Finished potatoes, have bet- 
ter than three hundred bushels. Put twenty bushels in house cellar for family 
use. Harmon takes butter to Culver's in evening. 

9th. Harmon goes to Phile Jenne's wedding. 

loth. Harmon and Mary at Mr. Kent's in the evening paring apples. 
Quite a fall of snow. 

I ith. Mrs. Roburds here with her son John S. Mr. Jenne has the pot- 
ash kettle awhile. Harmon returns from Parishville with some cloth. 

1 2th. Sunday, Mr. Bowles gave his audience an account of the pro- 
tracted meeting held in Lawrence of his church there. He also gave notice of 
one to be held at the same place in the Baptist Church. In the future the Bible 
class will meet in the evening. The Sunday-school will be held during inter- 
mission at noon. Nathan Peck and Remington here. They did not come or 
leave together. Peck tarried till eleven and Remington till after twelve. 

13th. Rider commences digging the well. 

14th. Old Mr. Rasey and Elisha Brooks from Ohio been here to-day. 
Mrs. R. and Mary making me a flannel coat to labor in. Labor is better for 
the health of the body than all the doctors with their opiates. 

1 6th. Collin assisting Rider at the well. Harmon and I drew logs to 
sawmill. Did some writing for McAffity and Collin. Mary and Clarinda gone 
to Caleb Wright's in the afternoon. Meribah and Lucretia Greene and a young 
man called, stay all night on account of the night. 

I 7th. Warmer. Rider and Collin at the well, are twenty feet down, 
found a frog. Mr. Webb and Mr. Greene's daughters left after breakfast. 

I 8th. A family consisting of two men, a wife and two children put up 
here last night on their way to Michigan, bill five shillings. Rider and Collin 
find water at thirty feet. Harmon assisting J. Brush draw a building. Lucy 
and J. Smith's daughters, Mrs. Kent, Mrs. E. and R. Post and Reuben .Abbott 
here. Lucy, Miss Smith and Abbott all night. ColUn is through work, takes 
one and one-half yards fulled cloth at ;Jl.7 5 per yard. A healthy man ought 
to spend no time idle. 

19th. Showery, no one to meeting. Youth like the butterfly skips from 
object to object without being able to settle on anything. Eager for pleasure, 
seizes anything that has its appearance. Alas ! how far are they from fore- 
seeing. They will deplore with bitterness in the evening of life their misspent 
morning. Reuben Abbott did not rise till 9 a. m. 

20th. Cool. Stoning the well. Women washing. I fetch water, cut 
wood, etc. B. Blair assists at the windlass. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 311 

2 1 St. Rider finished stoning well. Sent some corn to Parishville mill by 
R. and E. Post. 

2 2d. Showery. E. Post framing my building. Got a piece of gray 
cloth fi-om Deacon Warner. Darius Kent has some cedar timber on Short Tract 
near his land for rails, fifty cents per hundred. 

23d. Thomas Harriman here, had three and a quarter yards fulled cloth. 
Kent had my shovel and has broken it. Mary making pantaloons for Harmon. 
Collin made two brooms for Mrs. R. Had his pay in soap, two gallons. 

24th. Harmon at East Village after Trussell's tackle to draw the pump. 
We also had Chittenden's. With both we drew the pump and placed it in the 
other well. Rider hewed out an eave trough. Samuel Abbott, Elias Post, 
William Kent, Witherill, Jenne and A. Rasey assisted on the pump. Feel 
thankful we handled it without accident. 

25th. Cold. Rider splicing the pump. The new well is about three 
feet the deepest. The Baptists hold a protracted meeting at East Village. 

26th. Sunday, the Baptists are passing to their meeting. Too cold 
for me to go. Mrs. Risdon's health is not good, troubled with the phthisic. 

27th. Been out with my gun. Not much hunting these days. Deer are 
scarce. Cautius C. Covey here. S. C. Remington at work on the hill. 

28th. Rider is digging a well for E. Post. 

29th. Harmon at work for E. Post. The black leg is about among 
calves. Been to lower place, found Hopkins's horses on the meadows. Have 
there six yearlings and four tvvo-ye.ir-olds. The papers give lamentable accounts 
of riot at Philadelphia at elections, five buildings burned, one man killed and 
several wounded. 

30th. The Frenchman who lives with Colonel Sanford here wants land. 

31st. Drew half inch board from Peck's mill. Rider working on stoop. 
Mrs. R. cut some drawers for A. Remington. 

November l. F. Brownell's son has the Vaughn and H. Peck farm for 
11117.27, and ^5 fee in grain the coming winter. 

2d. Sunday, been with D. Covey to the funeral of EHas Moon ; aged 
seventy-six, buried on the plat a few rods northeast of his house. Elder Pratt 
preached. Harmon, Mary and Clarinda to meeting at the village. Esq. 
Abbott has been very sick this fall. He showed a gravel taken from his bladder 
as large as a common bean. Conversed also with Samuel Eastman, Sr. He 
was badly hurt by his bull this fall, was senseless for a time, is now much better. 
Both of the above-named gentlemen are of the first settlers of this town and 
about sixty years of age. [The bull attacked him in the yard. His horns 
caught in his clothing, and as he threw him he fortunately went over the fence 
and thus saved his life, as George 8. Wright tells me. — Ed.] 

3d. Cool, pleasant. Election at J. Hart's. S. Z. " Tenno " here. 
Takes the Asa Newton farm by paying me §5.25 in grain. In afternoon I was 
over to the other place drawing the shingle nails from the roof of the old house. 
Rider shaving shingle, Harmon splitting. [Here is decided proof that cabin is 
yet standing. — Ed.] 

4th. Second day of election held at East Village. My bed is placed in 
the kitchen ; more comfortable for Mrs. R. on account of her health. C. C. 
Covey with us for the night. Been to village, voted what we call the Whig ticket. 



312 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

6th. Pleasant. Hear the Jackson party have 9 majority on the county 
ticket, I 3 on the state. Harmon to Whitney the shoemaker with twelve pounds 
of sugar. Mary traded at Culver's fourteen or fifteen dollars. Sawed a plank 
lengthwise. Clarinda sat on it to keep it steady and, as she says, to teeter. 
Hear that Joseph Brownell is dead and buried to-day at Parishville. Hear also 
that K. S. Hawthorne drinks to excess at times and is not capable of doing busi- 
ijess at all times. Sorry to hear it. Jackson party has six hundred majority in 
the county. Last year it was about one thousand. 

8th. Moved corn house. R. Post and team, W. Kent and team, P. 
Post and team, E. Jenne and team and E. Post and R. Witherill assisted. 

9th. Sunday, fair. All to meeting but Mrs. R., no preaching. James 
G. Hopkins is in town. Cautius C. Covey, Orange Moon, R. Witherill and 
W. Stone here. R. Post took up his flax, had thirty pounds. 

loth. Rider digging well for C. S. Chittenden. 

1 Ith. Harmon to Squire's to get coat cut. 

12th. Harmon and I to Parishville to get each a coat cut. He rode his 
colt. Sent my account against the town to our supervisor at Canton. 

13th. Miss Betsey Meacham comes to work. Took cold yesterday, sick 
to-day. 

14th. Nathan Peck had a cheese. R. Witherill brought piece of venison. 

1 5th. Been surveying for William Short. Harmon gone to Malone. 
Women tailoring. 

1 6th. Clear and cold. No one to meeting. Mrs. R. not well enough to 
walk so far. We cannot be called fair-weather Christians, for it is a beautiful day. 

17th. Rider has come to a rock and is blasting in Chittenden's well. 
Betsey leaves to-day, has worked four days, due her $1 if we pay the money. 
She and Mary made two frock coats while here. 

19th. Killed two sheep for tallow. Mrs. R. will get nearly forty pounds 
from the two sheep. 

2 1st. Took young cattle from the other place. Threw straw out of stable. 
2 2d. Asa Kent, Rasey and Witherill here grinding axes. 

23d. Sunday, Port and William Kent spend the evening. 

24th. Set out with my gun, did not go far. Hunting ceases to divert as 
it formerly did. Remington has been here, appears to oppose temperance and 
other societies, lives back in the woods, has but one neighbor, and I hear does 
not live in intimacy with him. Has a likely wife. 

25th. Snow four inches. Been out hunting with Mr. Rasey, saw no deer. 

26th. The Frenchman [he speaks of a man who worked for Colonel San- 
ford as the Frenchman] had the old boards from the roof of the log house at the 
other place and an old door worth perhaps four days' work this winter. [The 
old log house is at last dismantled. The rain and snow can now beat in and do 
their work. — Ed.] 

27th. Clarinda attends school. Adeline Peck here. McDole wishes me 
to do some surveying for Mr. Parish. One of my calves has the black leg. 
The swelling, however, is in the chops. Cut a slit in the side of the head, 
smells bad, will die. 

28th. Surveying Mr. Green's farm. Thomas Tearl is buried to-day. 

29th. Lodged at Mr. Green's. Reuben Post led a horse out to Parish- 
ville for me to ride home. Charged David Parish $z per day. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 313 

30th. Harmon, Clarinda and Adeline gone to meeting. Snow all gone 
in the fields. I am surprised many times when I reflect on my age, which is 
more than fifty, and broken constitution, that ambition should still lead me on 
to clear such and such a piece, to build this or that fence or building, etc. 

December I. Finished surveying Mr. Green's farm at Parishville. Took 
up note I gave Mr. Hawthorne to be paid in surveying. Got of Mr. Merrill, 
merchant, one and a half pounds putty. 

zd. Surveying at Parishville for Mr. Hawthorne. Mrs. R. sold a 
cheese to Mr. Durrell. It is reported Mr. Hawthorne is some addicted to 
drink. 

3d. Harmon ploughing in the orchard. Wm. Sheals here with Mr. 
Green's oxen. Clarinda is at school these days, goes from home to the village. 

4th. Mr. Rider works by the month, but I have agreed that all he cuts 
and cords over two cords per day I will allow him after the rate of two cords a 
day, provided he takes the timber as he goes over the ground. John S. Roburds 
after a saw. 

5th. Finished ploughing the orchard yesterday. Rider, the Frenchman 
and Collin chopping cord wood over the brook. John Henderson here. Says 
my tax is $8.6^. 

6th. Rider and the Frenchman have cut twenty-four cords this week. 

7th. Sunday, snow about five inches. A. Remington says Nathaniel 
Baldwin's child, an infant, is dead. Harmon at singing school. 

8th. Mr. Plummer wants assistance in drawing a building. 

9th. Harmon assisting him draw a house from J. Brush's to near H. 
Mead's. Clarinda at Uncle Elias's last night. Good sledding. 

10th. Harmon drew a load of boards from Peck's mill with his steers. 

I ith. Thanksgiving Day. Mr. Culver takes upwards of eighty pounds 
of cheese. Champin Reeve, P. Post and lady here in evening. 

1 2th. E. Drake had 400 cwt. hay. Mrs. R., Mrs. Kent and Mrs. 
Post at R. Post's. 

13th. Mary making pantaloons for me. 

14th. Sunday, cold. None to meeting. 

1 5th. Cold day. Keep fires and do chores. Harmon brings pair of 
boots for himself and for W. E. Collin. Let Harriman's son have a pair a few 
days since. Mary has a new pair of high quartered shoes. 

1 6th. Winter in earnest. Cattle do not like to feed at the stacks, find 
the want of a barn over the brook. Aaron Jenne here. Mrs. R. has a bad 
cough. Mary does the work. 

18 th. Clarinda is steady at school, notwithstanding the cold. The 
chimney in our house has a poor draught. We are much afflicted with smoke 
in the kitchen in particular. In the cold weathr it is attended with a great deal 
of labor to keep fire. The vi'ood has to be carried through three doors. I 
find the fatigue of getting in the large wood, together with the suffocation of 
smoke, to be unsupportable. 1 think it best to remedy the evil by a stove. 
[This proves that he was still using the fireplace.] Witherill, Julius Peck and 
their ladies here. Andrew Squire here with a half bushel for himself and one 
for R. L. Eastman to be sealed. 



314 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

The Cook Stove. 

[I find it impossibie to ascertain just when the cook stove made its first ap- 
pearance in eastern St. Lawrence. It is quite evident that the first to appear 
were brought in from Vermont. Mr. Charles W. Leete of Potsdam gives me 
the most reliable information which I have been able to obtain. He was born in 
Oneida County in 1823 and moved to Potsdam in 1837. W. W. Goulding 
and Henry Hewett were then engaged in a general store business in the firm 
name of Goulding & Hewett, including the manufacture and sale of heating and 
cook stoves. John K. Wead was then and had been for a few years selling a 
cook stove called the " Wainright," made in Middlebury, Vt. He sold them 
here and there as he could, taking horses, cattle, grain, etc., in exchange for 
them. It was a large, heavy afi^air and quite high in fi-ont. The rear part was 
only about half as high as the front, with a large griddle hole for a boiler. The 
stovepipe came out of the middle of the high part of the stove, with two oval 
griddle holes, one on each side of the pipe. 

There was also a cook stove sold at about the same time called the " Braugh- 
ton." It was quite similar to the " Wainright." Messrs. Goulding & Hew- 
ett were manufacturing and selling at this time a stove called the " Premium." 
It was much lower than the others and took large wood, blocks a foot in diam- 
eter. In 1839 Mr. Leete joined the firm, and they at once began the manu- 
facture of a new cook stove, for which Mr. Hewett had obtained the patterns 
in Vermont. This stove had a round, rotary top in which were four round 
griddle holes. It was so constructed that the top could be readily rotated, bring- 
ing one griddle lid over the fire at a time. This stove sold so well that they 
were unable to supply the demand, and so got a blast furnace and foundry in 
Waddington to cast the parts for them, which were set up here and sold in large 
numbers. George S. Wright, Esq., says his father got one when he was quite a 
boy and that it took all the men in the neighborhood to handle it, giving a three- 
year-old colt for it. — Ed.] 

19th. M. Kent and E. Post here. Harmon and Mary at Mr. Jenne's. 
Clarinda at P. Post's in evening. 

20th. Alanson Blair here. Shot a large white owl. 

zist. Harmon, Mary and Clarinda at meeting. Dr. Langhlin been out 
to see Mr. Remington who is sick. 

23d. Harmon assisting Mr. Bowles get wood. 

24th. Took some cheese to Mr. Culver. Old Mr. Rasey, his wife and 
Mrs. Jenne here. Fear my calves will die, notwithstanding all my care. 

25th. Mr. Witherill ground a shave. Talk of hiring J. G. Rider half the 
time for five months. Mary Laughlin here in evening. Sifted ashes on calves. 

26th. Been to Potsdam with Mr. Witherill, harnessed in the colt with 
his horse ; went well. 

28th. Sunday. Clarinda is not well these days, does not complain much. 
[She never did in after life, as those who knew her will all attest. — Ed.] 

29th. Cold. Feed all the hay fi-om one stack over the brook. R. Post 
hooped some barrels for us. R. Witherill borrowed four bags. 

30th. Moderate. Killing hogs. Orange Moon and E. Post assisting. 
Samuel Abbott and David Covey, Mr. Witherill and P. Post here. 

31st. Lee Eastman wants school money. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 315 

The Year J 835 — Mr. Lyon teaches Singing School — Special Election as to 
Poorhouse System — Cautius C. Covey called — Mr. Francis in Destitu- 
tion — J. Brooks called — Mr. Hunt and a Woman arrested — Asahel Kent 
in Trouble — Visits Nathan] Peck — Harmon marries Mary H. Sheals of 
Malone — Trial ot Rev. Talfaott — The Chapman House at East Village 
(Hotel) burned April 6 — Settlers setting Fires — Corn $1, Hay $25 — 
Buys Hat at $4 to be paid in Cord Wood at 75 cents — Chester Tapper and 
others go West — Caravan of Wild Animals at the Village — Judge Fine 
calls — Universalists hold great Meeting in the Village — Cfutting the 
Girdled Piece — No Postage Stamps — Postage paid in Cash to Postmaster 
— Artillery Drill in Stockholm — Roswell Laughlin takes Census — Dr. 
Laughlin goes to Ogdensburg to live — Builds and puts up a Loom in his 
House — Dedication of the Congregational Church — Death of Abigail 
Sanford — The Calves have Consumption — Vice-President Van Buren 
passes through Town, August 18 — Still use Sickle in reaping Grain — The 
two Marys weaving — Harmon's Wife weaving and contented — Daughter 
Mary goes to Academy at Potsdam, boards with Miss Smith at $J per 
Week- — Mary watches with Mrs. Barney Moon — Rev. Bowles's Father 
preaches in Church — Unsold Short Lands sold — Peddlers plenty — Asa 
Squire fined — Great Fire in New York City. 

January I . Settled with Rue! Lawrence, owe him sixty-eight cents. 
Mother Post here. Lent Mr. Lawrence a whip to ride to Parishville. IVIrs. 
R. weighed him out twelve and one-quarter pounds lard at ten cents. He is to 
make hinges for the balance. 

5th. Rider brings his fanning mill to clean rye. Dr. Laughlin here, had 
a cheese, paid one dollar in money. Pulled two teeth for Mary. 

6th. Harmon and Nathan Peck gone to Parishville with rye. 

9th. Mary making a vest for E. Post. R. Post carried Mother Post 
home on a sled. Drew up seven loads of wood. 

Ilth. Sunday, all but Mrs. R. at meeting, no preaching. Mr. Bowles 
at Lawrence. 

12th. Mr. Lyon teaches singing school this winter. Chittenden's 
team here for ashes, had nine bushels at twelve and one-half cents per bnshcl. 
A special town meeting throughout the county. The object is to discontinue the 
poorhouse system of supporting the poor. 

14th. Warm rain. B. Blair here in want of work. 

I 5th. Mrs. R. quite unwell, has phthisic. Clarinda continues at school 
notwithstanding the distance, one-half mile. She occasionally rides with Mr. 
Ashael Kent's children. 

1 6th. Wrote Robert Lennox, Esq., of New York, enclosing John Hen- 
derson's receipt for tax ^10.32; asked him to pay Travis, Hall & Co., §4 for me. 

17th. J. Sanford, Brownell and W. Shields here to-day. 

19th. J. Sanford and Foster Brownell here. Brownell has the Asa 
Newton farm. Wrote a deed for Jacob R. Norris. Cautius C. Covey and 
his sister called. Drew eight loads of wood to the door. 

2 1 St. Mr. Francis, a young Frenchman here, is in low circumstances, has 
wife and six children, has all his provisions to buy and nothing to buy with but 
his labor. He says he is now out and knows not where to obtain any more. 
None of the farmers about here will hire and pay in grain at this season, neither 
will they pay in provisions now on credit for work in the summer. I have 
promised all the grain I have, save what I must keep for my own family use. 



3i6 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

He has a cow but no hay. I let him have some meal and about fifty pounds of 
meat. He carried it all on his back to his home, about five miles. 

23d. Orange B. Moon had six pounds of butter at 1 2^4 cents. Old 
Mr. Thomas is dead. 

24th. Mr. Thomas was buried to-day. He was one of the first settlers 
of the town and nearly eighty years old. Elder Pratt preached. John Brooks 
from Vermont called on me. Cautius C. Covey and Ira Smith here. [Mr. 
Smith was his brother-in-law, having married Lucy Post. — Ed.1 

25th. Sunday. In eve Mary making cloak for Harmon. I was pleased 
to once more see and converse with J. Brooks. We were youths together in 
Bristol, Vt. He is a brother of Mrs. Phineas Durfey. 

26th. Warm. At work on the horse stable. I hear that Mr. Hunt of 
Lawrence was one day last week taken for passing counterfeit money, committed 
for trial at the next county court ; also that a woman was taken at the same 
time, she made her escape, was retaken on Saturday last and had an examination 
before the justices to-day. I hear the constable has gone with her this evening 
to Canton jail. Poor woman! It is said she appears to feel bad. It appears 
there are others connected in the cheat of money. C. S. Chittenden and others 
have been active in searching them out and bringing them to justice. 

27th. Mrs. Hosea Brooks, Mrs. Henry Greene, Mrs. Asahel Kent and 
Mother Post here. Paid Lee Eastman §15, all I am owing him. 

28th. Sent $1 by Clarinda to Betsey Meacham, the tailoress. N. Bald- 
win paid $5 on note he gave Barney Moon better than two years ago. 

February z. Julius Peck gone to Plattsburg with cherry boards. Dr. 
Sprague will marry tor his third wife Rhoda Kent, makes a good deal of talk. 

5th. Paid Caleb Wright ^20. Gideon Sprague and Mr. Simonds here. 

9th. Drawing wood to Zoraster Culver's. My health is better, doing 
chores again. 

loth. Mrs. R. has made me a pair of socks to wear over my boots. Dr. 
Sprague has married Rhoda Kent. 

I ith. Mr. Beecher has had three pounds of butter. Mary Covey returns 
with Harmon from David Covey's. Mr. Kent has trouble these days, occa- 
sioned by the school children throwing wood into the road, which he says frightens 
his horse. 

1 2th. Mr. Witherill and I with our wives made a family visit at N. Peck's. 

13th. Mary Covey and Mary Risdon at their uncle's. Clarinda attends 
a party at Mr. Lawrence's. I am troubled with rheumatism. 

14th. It is thirty-one years since I first came into Hopkinton. 

17th. Harmon and Mary gone to Malone. They have Mr. Witherill's 
horses and Laughlin's sleigh. Mr. Kent and wife and W. Sheals also gone. 

I 8th. Snows lightly. Harmon has returned from Malone with his wife. 
Married Mary H. Sheals, a daughter of Mrs. Asahel Kent, at her residence with 
her uncle Webb at Malone, by the Rev. Ashbel Parmerly in the evening of the 
18th inst. Elijah Harmon is an only son of ours. All amicable. 

20th. Harmon and his lady, Mary Risdon and William Sheals, gone to 
Parishville. Mason Crossman from Vermont here. 

26th. Harmon with the girls gone to Parishville. They are having some 
difficulty with Mr. Talbott, their minister, at Parishville. 

March I. Sunday, children all at meeting. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 317 

3d. Town meeting day. A. Harran wants a place to make sugar. 

4th. E. Post notifies me that I am elected school commissioner and sealer 
for the town. J. Henderson wishes to sell me a cutter, I cannot buy it. 

5th. Stage on wheels these days. 

loth. Children all at singing school. William Sheals and Lucretia Greene 
here all night. Sowing grass seed in the big hollow. People pass, some on 
wheels and some on runners. Rev. Talbott's trial commences in Parishville 
again to-day. John Goodell here, gave him for those burned out in East Village 
a few nights since some potatoes, onions, a piece of pork and a pair of socks. 

[Lucretia Greene, a sister of Meribah Daggett of Potsdam, married Martin 
Welch and is living at Michigan. — Ed.] 

I Ith. R. Kent here, qualified for the office of sealer. Asa Sheldon paid 
seventy-five cents on his land. Assisted him up the hill with a load of ashes. 

14th. Mr. A. Kent is hurt by falling from his wagon. 

16th. Mr. Leonard of Parishville has thirty acres over the river from 
Goss's mill at $i.j^. 

17th. Clarinda has been steady at school, last day. 

20th. Mr. Stanley and Mr. Webb from Malone here. All over to Mr. 
Kent's in the eve. 

22d. Sunday. Winter appears determined to contest the possession of 
the earth awhile longer with spring. It has been a severe winter and we sel- 
dom have a more severe storm than is now raging. Rider says the snow is 
knee deep. 

25th. Mrs. R. gone to Joseph Brush's. Meribah Greene here. Clarinda 
has young company. Rider dressing flax. Caleb Wright and daughter called. 

26th. Mrs. Greene, Meribah, Henry and Rollin here all night. They 
have been to Stockholm. 

29th. Harmon, his wife and Clarinda at meeting, communion day. 

30th. Chilly morning. Been with Clarinda up to Mr. Peck's. Mr. 
Remington will sell his farm to me. 

31st. Mr. Remington here most of the day. Mary at her uncle's. 
Harmon boiled sap in an arch this year. 

April I . The snow is off some in the fields but deep in the woods. 

3d. Mr. Blair and his son Martin here, also Caroline Brooks. 

4th. My cows have done well this season. I do believe cows will pay 
well for all the extra expense of stabling. 

5th. Harmon gone to meeting, no others. 

6th. Nathan Peck here, wants some hay. 

7th. Nathan Peck pays for eleven pounds of salt and cheese, in corn. Met 
the commissioner of schools at Elias Post's. Divided the school money, etc. 
Hear Chapman's house is burned and a small barn at East Village. 

8th. Women have another quilt on the frame. Orange B. Moon and 
William Sheals here. 

9th. Been at I. R. Hopkins's as a witness in court. 

loth. Paid Albert Sheldon, collected my school bill fifty cents, thirty- 
nine delinquent in wood, total eighty-nine cents. Paid it in corn. Young 
women at R. Post's quilting. 

1 Ith. Asa Sheldon paid me $1.55, balance for ten acres of land. 

I 2th. Sunday, all at meeting but Mrs. R. and myself. 



3i8 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

13th. Snow is oiF in the fields, bu; not in the woods. A raven picked 
out the eye of a live lamb. Clarinda takes tender care of the one-eyed lamb. 

l/j-th. Cold, blustering morning, snow and wind. It is now better than 
six months since I began to stable my cows. I am still stabling them. 

15th. Cold morning. Sap does not run. Made fence on side hill. 

1 6th. D. Fisk and Mr. Harran here, did some writing for them. E. 
W. Collin will work for me half the time for six months at ^14 per month. 
Harmon's wife and Mary walked over to Dr. Sprague's in the afternoon. 

1 7th. Cold and stormy. Cattle want as much if not more hay than at 
any time this winter. We have had a Siberian winter and spring. 

1 8th. The brook in the hollow I noticed as I crossed it to fodder my 
young cattle was frozen over. Reuben Webb left the stage and called on us this 
morning on his way to the western country. I sit writing by a large fire. 

19th. Sunday. Mr. White and Mr. Webb set out this morning for the 
west. Harmon, Clarinda and Sheals gone to meeting. 

20th. If William Sheals stays with me we have a family of nine. 

2 I St. Ground covered with snow. Mrs. R. carding tow, also Clarinda. 
Mary spinning flax. 

22d. The face of the earth is covered with snow. It is a task for all of 
us to do the chores, and tend the sugar, sheep, lambs, calves, cows, horses, 
hogs, hens and one old goose. It is a gloomy time, but thank God we are all 
well and in hopes of pleasanter days. Orange B. Moon has my cart. 

Z3d. Cold, chilly morning. Boiled sap all night. Clarinda, with my 
assistance, takes good care of the lambs. 

24th. The ground is again covered with snow. John brings another 
lamb to Clarinda. 

25th. Collin takes his cow and calf Making fence across the hollow. 

26th. Pleasant. Children all at meeting. 

27th. Drive young cattle to the slash pasture. 

28th. Rains and snows. Have brought young cattle back to the stack. 
Storm continues, snow nearly a foot in depth. Have made 570 pounds of sugar. 

29th. Harvey Hurlburt here, had some pork. Got a pair of cloth 
shoes for Clarinda. Harmon gets the last of the hay from the other place. 

30th. This has been a remarkably long season for feeding stock. 

May I . Dr. Sprague drew a tooth for Mary. 

2d. Been up south after compass left in woods last fall, under an old log. 
David Covey here, had six dollars in pork, gave his note. 

3d. Sunday, children all at meeting. Horses and sheep grazing about, 
get but a little feed. 

4.th. Drive the eight yearlings to the other place. 

5th. Collin and myself mending and capping fence. 

6th. Harmon and Sheals ploughing. 

yth. Clearing up brands where we had rye. Mary Laughlin here. Cla- 
rinda gone to Parishville. 

8th. A flurry of snow this morning. My cows have lain in the stable 
every night for seven months. 

9th. Cold, frosty morning. Sheals dragging in wheat in the orchard. 

loth. Sunday. Apple and forest trees look about as dry as any time in the 
winter. Clarinda at Parislwille. Other children at meeting. Gid. Abbott here. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 319 

I ith. Sheals dragging with two yoke of steers. Clariiida came in stage. 
Harmon gets a bushel of seed wheat of Mr. Mosher, gi.25. 

12 th. Pleasant. The girls are to-day over cleaning the meeting-house. 
13th. Two peddlers here to dinner. People are setting many fires. 
Smoke rises in various points. 

14th. Been sowing grass seed myself. Mr. Bowles and his lady took 
dinner and prayed with us, appear well. Dense smoke rises in the west. Cla- 
rinda at school at the village, other two girls on a visit at Dr. Laughlin's. Have 
four horses, twenty-five old sheep and thirteen lambs. 

I 5th. Mr. Johnson and A. Remington here for hay. 

1 6th. All the hay in the country will be consumed this year. It is ^30 
at Buffalo and $2^ at the lake. Corn $1 per bushel. 

17th. Sunday, pleasant. Children at meeting. Can just discern the 
buds starting on the apple trees. 

18th. Pleasant. Been to J. Peck's mill. E. Post is drawing logs on the 
log way. E. Post and R. Post had 500 pounds of hay each. 

19th. Had cowslips for dinner. The most springlike of any day season. 
20th. Planting potatoes. Feed cows once a day on hay. 
21st. Sowing peas. Took twenty-three pounds butter to Culver. 
2 2d. Harmon took twenty-five bushels of potatoes to Mr. Dwinell. 
Austin Kent has returned from Canada. Jewett Webb fi-om Malone called on us. 
23d. Pleasant. Mr. Webb and myself been down to the other place. 
Smoke rises in most all directions, people burning their brush, etc. 

24th. Sunday, pleasant. Family all at meeting except myself. Why I 
remain fi'om meeting is I have no hat, poor excuse. The forest trees begin to 
have a changed look though not yet green. 

2 5th. A warm shower. J. Webb left for home. Women washing. 
Sheals and myself planting corn. 

26th. Peter Post had ten quarts of seed corn. Nathan Peck had five hundred- 
weight of hay. Women whitewashing the house. 

27th. Some frost this morning. Have not fed the cows on hay to-day. 
28th. Been surveying for Dr. Sprague, Asa Dwinell and Zoraster Culver, 
thirty-seven and one-half cents each. Bought of C. S. Chittenden a hat at 
;J4.oo, to be paid in cord wood next winter at seventy-five cents per cord. 
Boys ploughing at the other place. Chester Tupper and others set out for the 
western country. 

29th. Fine growing time. 

30th. Clarinda and myself been after evans root and also fishing. Apple 
trees are mostly in blow, and the forest trees have a beautiful green. 
31st. Sunday, all but Mrs. R. been to meeting. 

June I. Harmon gone to Parishville mill, got a barrel of salt of Mr. 
Brooks. Sam Abbott's two daughters here all night. 

2d. The New York caravan of wild beasts passed this morning, exhibit 
at the village this afternoon. Judge Fine of Ogdcnsburg here for cattle of Mr. 
Short's settlers. Been with him this afternoon. Family all but Mrs. R. off to 
the show. 

3d. Been with judge Fine, took dinner at Parishville. Boys wash sheep. 
Have collected four yoke of oxen and ten cows in Catharineville. 1 am offered 
the Blair farm for ^200. 



320 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

4th. Judge Fine left for Ogdensburg. Crows pulling my corn. Had 
three and one-half bushels of ashes of Asa Kent for making soap at fourteen cents 
per bushel. Think I will clear off my girdled land this season. 

5th. Mrs. R. at the village. Harmon with team at Mr. Witherill's. 
Peter Post has four quarts of seed corn. 

6th. Sheals at work for R. Post. Making shelves myself in the stoop. 
Been to Or. Moon's. 

7th. Sunday, all but myself at meeting. Crows pulling my corn. 

8th. Boys throwing logs together on the meadow at the old place. Or. 
Moon signs contract. Harmon assisting Mr. R. Post shear Mr. Kent's sheep. 

9th. Asa Sheldon and Mr. Richardson's sons set out with Mr. Short's 
cattle for DeKalb. I went as far as Parishville with them. Gave Mr. Sheldon 
|3 for expense money. 

loth. Sheals hoeing for Mr. Kent. Women washing at the brook. Janet 
Sheals here. 

I ith. Harmon takes wool to the machine with cart and oxen. Mrs. R. 
rode with him to Noah Post's. D. Covey's two daughters here. Mr. Kent saw 
a deer in my field. 

13th. Harmon and his lady gone to Champin I. Reeve's; he is sick. 
Been over to the village. The commissioner of highways is selling road to makel 

14th. No one gone to meeting. It is said the meeting-house is shut up 
and will remain fastened until the dues for its building are paid. 

15th. Collin, Sheals, Harmon and myself with plough on the road. 

1 6th. Finished work on road, nine and one-half days. 

I 7th. Cool. Been after rolls. Women making candles. 

1 8th. Clarinda spinning. Caught twenty-five mice to-day in mouse traps. 
19th. Asa Dwinell takes the S. Clark farm. Jesse Smith's two daughters 

called awhile. 

20th. Rained. Harmon and Sheals fishing. 

2 I St. Sunday, cool. The meeting-house remains shut. Children all at 
meeting, I expect, in the stone house. 

22d. Continues cold, nothing grows. Women washing at brook. 

23d. Commenced on my girdle land. There are about thirty acres of 
it. I should hke well to clear and get it into grass. 

24th. A peddler here with maps, charts, etc. Left a map of Vermont, 
New Hampshire and Maine. A great meeting of the Universalists at the vil- 
lage. Stephen Meacham here all night. Mary at her uncle's, Noah Post's. 
Austin Kent paid me ^2.50. 

25th. Cutting trees in the girdling. I plan the falling of the trees. 
Mary and Clarinda spinning. The Universalists have a preacher from Utica. 
Mrs. Laughlin, Mrs. Art. Kent and Mrs. Sprague here. Noah Post's infant 
child is dead. Jonah Sanford and J. R. Norris here to-day. 

26th. Harmon and wife at fijneral of Mr. Post's child. Mr. William 
Sheals and myself at church meeting. Paid Mr. Laughlin $1 for postage on 
paper, etc. Mr. Snell tempered a hoe for me. The assessors called and took 
my assessment. 

27th. Mrs. R.'s health is not good, neither is my own. 

28th. Sunday, showery weather. Children at meeting. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 321 

Z9th. Mr. Rider and Mr. Collin came to work. Sheals is sick. 

30th. Deacon Warner, Martin Blair and his brother here after land. 

July I . Lucius Blair at work with the boys in the girdling. 

2d. Rider offers to clear off ten acres of land for $ I 20 and find his own 
team, I to board him and team. 

4th. Harmon off with the artillery company to Stockholm. Guns are 
roaring to-day, can hear them. 

Jth. Sunday, all but Mrs. R. at meeting, sacrament day. 

6th. Built a good pair of bars for Mr. Kent, expect the privilege of com- 
ing through them with hay from the other place. 

7th. Boys grinding, making brooms, cutting wood at door. Colonel 
Sanford here. I am pleased with his company. 

8th. I sell Ezekiel Blair fifty acres of the lot he is on for $125 and take 
part pay in labor. 

9th. Ros. Laughlin taking census. The two Marys at D. Covey's. 

loth. Mrs. Greene and Meribah here. 

Ilth. Harmon and Sheals off at training. The artillery company meet 
at the village. Been to village making school report. 

12th. Sunday, all the family at meeting except Mrs. R. and Mary. 

13 th. Been with the commissioner of highways as surveyor fining the road 
from Phineas Durfey's to the Turnpike, all day, fee gz.50. [This is the north 
and south road just west of Judge Sanford's. — Ed.] No corn at other place. 

14th. Mrs. R. at Reuben Post's. Harmon after turnip plants. Com- 
menced making cheese yesterday. Reuben Post has a son born, all well. Samuel 
Abbott here. 

15th. Cutting axe helve timber. Nathan Peck, Mr. Witherell and J. 
Moon grinding axes, etc. Jesse Moon had a pig at J51.50. 

1 6th. Mary sat up with Mrs. Reuben Post last night. Girls to Parishvillc. 

17th. My corn will not be half a crop. 

1 8th. Corn will do well on new land when protected b}' the forests from 
the southwest wind, but not if exposed. Sold a sheep to Mr. Lawrence, §3.50. 

19th. Sunday, all the family at meeting except Mary. Mr. Taylor 
preached. Many from out of town attended. Mr. and Mrs. Henry C. 
Greene took tea with us. Ros. Sawyer from New York in town. 

zoth. All hands slashing east of the slash pasture. 

23d. Asahel Kent has commenced haying. 

24th. Ezekiel and his son Lucius slashing. Jesse Moon has worked with 
Collin and Sheals to-day. 

25th. Mr. Blodgett and wife took dinner on their way to Parishville. 
Sold a pig to Or. Wing for two days' work. 

26th. Sunday, children all at meeting. Mrs. R. quite sick to-day. 

27th. Collin got a scythe and snath at Brooks's store on my account. 

28th. Commenced haying over the brook. Ox flies very plenty. 

29th. Heavy shower. Harmon after rolls. 

30th. Harmon seems to have but little concern on the farm. I expect he 
is not very well. 

31st. Mrs. R. at Mr. Witherell's ; they have a son. 

August I . Harmon to mill at Parishville. 

2d. Sunday, all but Mrs. R. at meeting. 



322 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

3d. All at haying. Darwin Brooks and his sister here. 

4th. Haying, commenced another stack. 

5th. Nathan Peck and Orlean, his son, at work. Grass is heavy around 
the old house and barn on the other place. Ros. Eastman had some pork, 
nineteen and one-half pounds. 

6th. Drew three loads from the other place into the new barn. Colonel 
J. Sanford's daughter, aged about eleven years, died yesterday ; has been unwell 
for a year or more. 

7th. Children over at funeral at Judge Sanford's. 

8th. Harmon at Mr. Lawrence's getting cart tire put on. 

9th. Sunday, all but Mrs. R. at meeting. A family from New York 
now occupy the house on the Buckingham farm in the village. Dr. Laughlin 
has lately left Hopkinton for Ogdensburg, takes the place of the late Dr. Smith. 
The inhabitants of Hopkinton are sorry to lose Dr. Laughlin. He is highly 
respected as a physician and neighbor. [The Buckingham farm was Mechanic 
lot number five. — Ed.] 

loth. Mowed most of the day. I have not mown so much in a day 
for twenty years. 

1 Ith. Have cut seven acres in two days ; got but a little over three loads, 
which we drew with two yoke of oxen. 

1 2th. The calves have the consumption, two or three more will die. 

13th. Fair. Art. Kent reaping wheat. 

14th. Harmon at Noah Post's with timber for loom, soap to Mr. Hyde's. 

15th. Have cut about fifteen acres tliis week, and nearly two loads of it 
in the cock. Drew in seven, too costly getting hay. 

1 6th. Powerful shower this morning. 

17th. For seven or eight years we have cut our hay at the other place, 
as we call it. It has been generally a fatiguing job. I think I shall do it no 
longer. Cut now better than twenty acres, and have not filled one barn. 
Drew two small loads into the barn at the other place and one home to-day. 

1 8th. Very showery. Moses Kent and wife here to-day. Heard 
Van Buren, Vice-President, has been past here ; saw the carriage it is said he 
rode in, high honor. 

19th. Sheals gone to Noah Post's for timber for loom. Harmon warning 
men to training. Two more calves have died; fear I have salted them too freely. 

20th. Drew four loads to the barn at the other place and one home. 

2 I St. Amanda Covey here this evening. 

2 2d. Harmon over to village ; trainband company meet. Mrs. P. Post 
here, good woman. Heard of an assault and battery in the village. One 
Cheney attacked C. S. Chittenden, damages ^5. 

23d. Sunday, all at meeting except Mrs. R. and Clarinda. Mr. East- 
man discovered frost on his farm this morning. Mr. Bowles is at Vermont, no 
preaching. 

24th. Peddlers took dinner. Drew three loads into old barn. 

2;th. Mary and Clarinda spinning. Have now ten acres of grass to cut, 
six of rye and two and one-half of wheat. 

26th. Harmon gone to military drill. Rider reaping rye. 

27th. Harmon returns from officers' drill at Potsdam. 

28th. Harmon is putting up the loom. Mr. Priest and Mr. Baldwin here. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 323 

29th. Orange Moon came to work on J. Moon's account. Reaping wheat. 

30th. Sunday. Mr. Bowles has not returned from Vermont, no preach- 
ing. Lucetta Abbott here after meeting. [This is Mrs. Lucetta Peck of Potsdam.] 

31st. Reaping wheat in the orchard. Many farmers have not finished 
haying. We now have green corn. If the frost holds off it may ripen yet. 
Cautius C. and Mary Covey, Frederick Sprague and sister here. 

September i . Drew two loads of hay into the old barn. 

zd. Reaping wheat near new barn. The two Marys have gone to 
David Covey's. 

3d. Drew in seventy shocks of rye and thirty shocks of wheat. 

4th. Corn doing well. Hope frost will hold off. 

5th. Drew a load of wheat into the old barn. Let Rev. Charles Bowles 
have twenty-five pounds of flour. Mrs.Jenne and old Mrs. Rasey here to-day. 

6th. Sunday, men folks at meeting. Mr. Bowles preached. There is 
some talk lately of dedicating the meeting-house. It will probably take place in 
October. 

7th. Harmon off at training. M. Kent had eight quarts of lime. Noah 
Post here fixing the loom. Mary has commenced weaving. 

8th. Mary H. thinks the loom will do well. 

9th. Baptist Association hold a meeting at the village. Mr. Abbott and 
David Covey's daughter here. 

loth. Trying to finish haying. The two Marys have one piece out from 
the loom and are now putting in another. Martin and Meribah Greene and 
others here to-day. 

Ilth. Frost this morning. Think it will not damage the corn. Have a 
full family these days. Mr. Zoraster Culver will buy one cheese. 

I 2th. Clariiula at Samuel Abbott's. Martin Greene returns to Middle- 
bury College on Monday next. 

13th. Sunday, all except Mrs. R. and myself at meeting. 

14th. Man is naturally an indolent being, unless his ambition is aroused. 
Too many of our young people think they can live without or with less labor 
than was required of their parents. Mr. Stanley, Mr. Webb, Mr. Young 
and Mrs. Stanley here all night. 

15th. Mr. Stanley, Sheals, Clarinda and Janet gone to Potsdam. Harmon 
over. to Mr. Orin Andrews's raising house. 

1 6th. Hewing timber for the wood house. Mr. Stanley left for home. 
A light frost this morning. 

17th. The two Marys at J. Smith's. Visit and receive visits these days. 
Rev. Charles Bowles had eighteen pounds of pork and twenty-two pounds of 
Indian meal. [Would think such a diet would produce vigorous preaching. — Ed.] 

I 8th. Getting out timber. 

19th. Harmon and Sheals mowing peas. 

20th. Sunday, all save Mrs. R. and myself at meeting. Mother Post 
at Samuel Abbott's these days. Forest trees change their color and falhng leaves 
are signs of the coming winter. May the autumn of the year remind us of the 
autumn of life when we must fade, droop and moulder away. I have observed 
that there is a family in town from New York. They now occupy the house 
Mr. Greene and Peter Post formerly did. Have bargained for the place. They 
attend the Baptist meeting and ride in good style. 



324 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

z I St. Rider and his two sons making shingles. Breaking greensward in 
the south field, used three yoke of cattle. Held the plough myself. 

zzd. Harmon's wife does the weaving these days, appears to be contented 
to live with us and is a fine young woman. Mary Risdon is also a good girl, 
industrious, has worked well this summer. Clarinda is rather loquacious. We 
are in hopes that she will become less talkative as she grows older. [She cer- 
tainly did ; a more quiet, demure woman it would be hard to find. — Ed.] 

24th. Julius Peck framing my building. 

zjth. Mr. Rasey and Orange Moon assist on building. 

z6th. Raised the building. The rafters are too short. 

27th. Sunday, family all at meeting. 

28th. Cutting green corn to feed the hogs. 

zgth. A herd of ten horses break into my fields. 

30th. Mr. Rider has made ten thousand shingles. Some flakes of snow. 

October I . Harmon at training in Potsdam. Shingling the woodhouse. 

2d. The last frost killed vegetation. The leaves begin to fall. J. Webb 
returns from the west. 

3d. Mr. Upham has moved into the Smith house. 

4th. Sunday, all but Mrs. R. and William Sheals at meeting. 

5th. Mary H. weaving at her mother's. 

6th. Sheals's eye is bad where it was cut. Mary is getting a web into 
the loom for the first time. She will learn to weave. 

7th. Harmon gone to mill. Mary weaving, complains of rotten yarn. 
Colonel Sanford here, signed J. Leach's contract, which was made over to him. 

8th. Building a stone ash house. Mr. Smith, my neighbor, brings lime. 
At the kiln the price is one shilling and six pence per bushel. 

9th. Paring apples in the evening. S. Abbott called, all night. 

loth. There is something pleasing in all the changing seasons. Even 
the lonesome fall and melancholy winter give something to delight. 

Ilth. Sunday, Harmon and wife, Mary and Sheals, at meeting. Mr. 
Smith's family attend meeting steady. Mr. Green and his daughter, Lucretia, 
his two sons, Henry and Rollin, called after meeting. 

I 2th. Have dug one hundred and eighty bushels of potatoes to-day. 

13th. Mr. Rider takes the black cow and pays me in shingles delivered 
at John Hart's on the Turnpike. 

14th. Peter Post cradling my oats. Our meeting-house is to be dedi- 
cated at one o'clock this afternoon. All the family attend except Clarinda. 
She and Janet have gone to Stockholm. 

15th. Mrs. R. and two Marys gone to meeting. 

16th. Paring apples these evenings. Feed cows on pumpkins. 

17th. My corn did not get ripe, season too wet and cold. 

1 8th. Sunday, children all at meeting. Were I a poet think I would 
write in the fall of the year. 

19th. Husking corn in the shed. Gathering apples. Mrs. Naylor and 
J. Simonds here. 

zzd. Joel Witherell left for his home in Orville, Vt. 

Z3d. Finished drawing corn. H. Laughlin and lady here. 

24th. R. Atwater here after a description of Short Tract. Harmon at 
the clothier's for cloth. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 325 

25th. Sunday, all except Mrs. R. and myself at meeting. 

26th. Mrs. Taylor had four pounds of pork. Girls at Noah Post's and 
Mrs. Nay lor' s in the evening. 

28Lh. Finished the ash house. 

29th. Have sold Deacon Aaron Warner a strip of land twenty rods in 
width off the west side of my farm adjoining his for ^160. Gideon Sprague 
called on me. 

31st. Digging stone and making wall. Reuben Abbott here all night. 

November I . Sunday, all but Mrs. R. at meeting. Received a letter 
from Judge Fine, has sold the unsold land on the Short Tract. 

2d. Election day. T. D. Witherell tells of having our butter and cheese. 
Peddler here for the night. 

3d. T. D. Witherell has one hundred and ninety-four pounds of cheese at 
six cents pound, one hundred pounds butter at fifteen cents pound. Harmon and 
wife at the Fort as we call it. Sheals watching with J. Simond's son. 

4th. In Lawrence surveying. Steamed potatoes. Samuel Abbott here. 

5th. Harmon and myself surveying in Lawrence for Isaiah Coolidge, 
Morgan, Lewis and Merchant. 

6th. David Brownell paid me f,z fee on land sale. 

7th. Elias Post raised his house to-day. 

8th. Sunday, all but Mrs. R. to meeting. 

9th. Settled with Abiel M. Hobart. Phineas Durfey here. 

loth. Surveying for Esq. AUen north of Phineas Durfey's. A. Durrell 
left J 1 00 for Mr. Short. 

I Ith. Stormy day. Writing for H. Allen, Esq. 

1 2th. Stormy. Butchered a two-year-old. A. Durrell had a quarter 
and Isaac Snell a quarter at four and one half cents pound. Sold the hide to 
Durrell for $z. 

13th. Ground covered with snow. Wrote Judge Fine, enclosing ;g 1 00. 

14th. Surveyed a farm for Esq. Allen taken by Phineas and Joseph Dur- 
fey south of Esq. Sanford's. 

1 5th. Harmon and Sheals at meeting, no others. 

1 6th. Harmon making cider. Been viewing land for Mr. Alien over the 
river. Post and J. Sanford here in the evening. 

17th. Orange Moon had six pounds seven ounces of pork. 

19th. Young people gone to meeting at Mr. Smith's in evening. Mrs. 
R. boiling cider for apple sauce. 

20th. Rainy. Been to cedar swamp with Orange Moon. The two 
Marys at Mr. Smith's. In the eve young people at R. Post's paring apples. 
[By the two Marys is meant his daughter and his son Harmon's wife. He calls 
the latter Mary H. — Ed.] 

2 1 St. Sealed a half bushel for S. Reeve. Putting up fence at the other 
place. Julius Peck raised a barn. 

2 2d. Harmon, his wife and Sheals at meeting. 

23d. Cold, snows. Drive cattle from the other place. Sheldon, With- 
erell and Moon here. 

24th. Cold, cloudy. Been out with my gun. Mr. Upham with me. 
Travelled some distance. Killed nothing. Mrs. Kent has a daughter born. 

25th. Cold, boys thrashing corn, peas, etc., for mill. 



326 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

z6th. Harmon and William Sheals gone to Parishville. Paid Lyon §6 
for dressing cloth. 

27th. Sleds run pretty well. Boiled potatoes for the hogs. 

28th. Surveying for Darius Kent. 

29th. Sunday, cold. Harmon and Sheals at meeting. Barney Moon's 
wife is not expected to live, sent here for a piece of beef. 

30th. E. Jenne and Mr. Smith grinding tools. Sheals getting a coat cut. 

December i. Severe cold. Mrs. Naylor came from New York. 

2d. Harmon gone to Potsdam with Mary. She e.xpects to attend school 
there this winter. Gave her $^ for expenses and an order on H. Allen for §5. 
Mary will board with Miss Smith at ^1 per week. The stage is on runners. 

3d. Clear and cold. Doing chores. 

4th. Wind and snow. Elias Post and Asahel Kent killing hogs. 

5th. Blustering. Wrote R. Lenox, Esq., of New York. Sealed three 
measures for Mr. Culver. 

6th. Harmon, Mary and Clarinda gone to meeting in a sleigh. The 
horses are our own and, I expect, the sleigh. 

7th. Clarinda and William Sheals commenced going to school at the vil- 
lage. Mr. Smith takes a yoke of steers. He can return them in June sound or 
pay me §50. 

9th. Caleb Wright, R. Thomas, wife and'son here. Hear Peter Post's 
little girl is married to young Baldwin. Reuben Post gone on a journey west. 

loth. Thanksgiving Day. Harmon and wife to meeting. David Covey, 
Elias Post and wife here for supper. Mary H. watching with Mrs. Barney 
Moon. Clarinda and Sheals at Reuben Post's while he is absent. 

Ilth. Been to Parishville with sleigh and horses of our own. H. Allen, 
Esq., called. 

1 2th. Am wintering four horses, seven cows, two pair of oxen, five two- 
year-olds, eleven yearhngs, three calves, thirty-six sheep, six shoats, geese, etc. 

13th. Sunday, Rev. Charles Bowles's father preaches to-day. All but 
myself at meeting. 

14th. Surveyed for Mr. Jenne. Sent papers to Judge Fine. Killed nine 
hogs and a cow. Or. Moon, Mr. Bruce and Mr. Upham assisted. 

16th. Very cold, Clarinda came home. 

1 7th. Cold. Peddler put up'for the night. Rev. Bowles had one hundred 
pounds beef. 

1 8th. Peddler's bill 84 cents. Traded, viz., gown for Clarinda ^1.05 ; 
gown for Mary, ^2.04; silk and thread, .30; calico, .52 ; 2 spoons, .70 ; 6 yards 
shirting, .84 ; an almanac, .06; 44 pounds nails, $3.30; leather, . 58 ; total, $9.39. 
Paid with his bill, ^4.72; due him, J4.67, to be paid in lard and cheese. R. 
Post returned from the west. 

19th. Gave Mr. Sylvester some fresh meat. He is a poor man. 

20th. Sunday, all but Mrs. R. and myself at meeting. It is said 
Asa Squire is sentenced to lie in jail three months and pay a fine of ^75. Trial 
at Canton last week. The Christians preach at Julius Peck's. Baptized to-day. 

2 1st. Miss Sylvester assisting the women, trying fat and tallow, and such 
work as butchering leaves. 

Z2d. Cold. Mr. Upham takes some meat for butchering. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 327 

23(1. Ground bare in spots. Henry Green says his mother is not so 
well, inquiring for Mr. Dunton. 

24th. Pleasant. Mr. Blodgett has eight pounds of tallow, paid $1. 

25th. Paid the peddler the ^4.67. Many buildings burned in New York 
City. Had no papers this week. 

26th. Sheals is unwell. Miss Sylvester left, worked one week, 75 cents. 

27th. Sunday, Harmon and Sheals at meeting. 

28th. Peddler called. Paid him ^3 in money for 71^ yards cotton goods 
3t $1 ; S/^ yards at gl ; 3 yards at ys. 6 J. ; dozen buttons 6 cents. Traded on 
credit, calico 3 8 cents ; paper of pins I 2 j4 cents ; j4. quire paper I 2 i/^ cents ; 
half box of percussion caps 3/. 6 J. ; total on credit, J1.06 ; in the whole 
J4.06. 

29th. Six hundred and seventy-four buildings burned in New York, 
mostly rich stores, loss of property estimated at ^15,000,000, some say more. 

30th. Been over to Mrs. Naylor's. Sleighing not very good. 

31st. Mrs. R. and Harmon gone to Parishville. Susan gone home. 
Heard a boy in Potsdam has committed suicide by hanging. Clarinda and Wil- 
liam Sheals gone to Parishville. 

The Year 1836 — A new Sect called Christians — Death of John Hornby at 
Potsdam —Mr. Risdon left Rupert, Vt., January 31, 1804, for Hopkinton — 
Digs Hole through Snow for Cattle to pass — The Christians hold Meeting 
in Stone House — George P. Farrar dies March 5 — Nathan Peck, a 
Pioneer, dies March 7 — Widow Hopkins and others making Graveclothes 
— Austin Kent licensed to Preach — Burial of Mrs. Hiram Peck — Pigeons 
in vast Numbers, shooting and trapping them — A Plaintive Cry for Spring- 
time — Daughter Mary married to Asahel H. Chittenden April Jo — A 
severe Winter — Many Cattle die of Starvation — C. S. Chittenden loses a 
Child — Surveying for George Parish — Women picking Wool — Death of 
Mrs. Barney Moon — Peter Post's Hogs sold — Training at the Village 
September 5 — Does off a Room in Woodhouse — Shoemaker comes and 
boots and shoes the Family — Art. Kent digging Potatoes with a Crowbar 
November 4 — Sends Money in a Letter — The Mr. Wheat Riot Suit — 
The little Band in Stockholm claim to be able to raise the Dead — A 
little History of the Band. 

January l . Lucretia Green came with Clarinda and Sheals. Drawing 
logs with chain to the door with two yoke of oxen. 

zd. Did some writing for Mr. Harran, twelve and a half cents. A letter 
from Mary, is well. 

3d. Sunday, all but Mrs. R. and myself at meeting. The sect called 
Christians hold service at J. Peck's occasionally. Mr. Peck was lately baptized. 
It is said others will be to-day. 

4th. Sleighing is good. It is said that the boy that was supposed to have 
hung himself in Potsdam lately was murdered. [This boy's name was John 
Hornby. He was at work for or living with Timothy P. Nightingale at Pots- 
dam. There was, as I am told, some sort of an examination or inquest over his 
death. He was a brother of the second wife of Reuben Abbott of Hopkinton.] 

5th. Mr. and Mrs. Webb here. Do but little besides chores. 

6th. Surveyed a farm in Matildaville for Mr. Parish. 

7th. Made out survey bills. Harmon getting chains mended. 



328 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

8th. No school. Sheals and Harmon getting wood to the door. Mr. 
Culver had four bushels of ashes. 

9th. Harmon and wife gone to Malone. 

loth. Sunday, snowing. No one to meeting. Waity Kent here. 

llth. Mrs. R. and Clarinda washing. Mr. Smith after his gun. 

I 2th. Harmon returns from Malone, Mr. Webb with him. 

13th. Mr. Moon and Mr. Bruce thrashing. Harmon at Parishville. 

I Jth. Sent a letter to the post office to G. Pratt. Mrs. R. quite unwell. 

1 6th. Orange Moon and B. Bruce thrashing. It appears Mr. Smith and 
his wife do not live amicably with Mrs. Naylor, tell of leaving and moving in 
with Mr. Rasey. [Mr. Rasey lived on road leading south from the Russell 
Witherell place and Orange Moon a little farther south now owned by Barney 
Conlin. — Ed.] 

17th. Sunday, all the children at meeting. Miss Meachani took tea. 
Clarinda at Naylor' s in eve. 

I 8th. Mr. Smith has left Mrs. Naylor and returned oxen he had of me. 

19th. Sheals at school. Notified Mr. Stone that his grain is ready for him. 

20th. Sheals and myself after cedar posts. Harmon at singing school. 

2 1 St. Mr. Stone had fifty bushels of rye at five shillings per bushel. 

23d. My health is good, have labored for eight or nine days getting out 
rails for the other place. 

24th. Sunday, Harmon, wife and Sheals at meeting. Clarinda not well. 

25th. Harmon and Sheals clean some wheat this evening. 

26th. Harmon at mill at East Village. 

27th. Harmon and wife taking a sleigh ride, should be at work at the rails. 

28th. Mary returned from Potsdam Academy with Harmon and wife. 
She is well pleased with her school. G. P. Farrar has the consumption. 

30th. Put hams in the smoke house. Mr. Shepard the schoolmaster 
here. Mr. Moon and Mr. Bruce split 1,000 rails for ^7.50. 

31st. Sunday, all except Mrs. R. and myself at meeting. Thirty-two 
years to-day since I set out from Rupert, Vt., for Hopkinton, N. Y., twenty- 
one years of age, young and healthy. I expected to remain here but one season 
and then return to the Genesee country, where I had left my parents in the year 
1800. Mr. Upham was taken sick at Julius Peck's while at meeting. Nathan 
Peck is unwell and has been for eight or nine months. Has been about, how- 
ever, until lately. 

February I. Harmon gone with Mary to Potsdam. Mr. Upham is no 
better, cramps violently. Samuel Abbott lost a cow, bitten by a dog. 

2d. Seldom colder, if ever. Do chores and sit by the fire. 

3d. Harmon and Mary been to see Mr. Upham. Mr. Kent home from 
Canada. Children at singing school. Have not earned my board to-day. 

5th. Mrs. Smith says that our American winters are more severe than in 
England. Harmon takes some Indian meal and flour to Noah Post's. 

6th. Been to Mr. Elias Post's. Mr. Upham is better. Nathan Peck 
is confined to his house. 

7th. Sunday, all the children at meeting. Erasmus D. Brooks and sister 
here. All at singing school. Mr. Laughlin teaches. 

8th. Mr. Phelps has been sick for some time. 

9th. Snow drifts into heaps, tedious day. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 329 

loth. My watering places fill with snow, difficult for cattle to get water. 

I ith. Dug a hole through the snow on the hill for the cattle to pass for 
water. Mrs. R. at her mother's this afternoon. 

1 zth. Harmon and wife to Parishville with sleigh. 

13th. The Indians call February the "snow moon," meaning that more 
snow falls in that month than in any other. We are buried in snow. 

14th. Sunday, all the children at meeting and at singing school in the 
evening. Mrs. R. quite unwell. 

15th. Gave a poor man with a broken arm three pounds of pork. 

l6th. John S. Roburds has the D. Merrill lot, provided he pays J85 on 
it before March 10. 

17th. Reuben Post at Norfolk. Harmon thrashing wheat. 

1 8th. It is feared Mr. Peck will not live long, wastes away. Mr. 
Phelps and Mrs. Moon are dangerously sick. Children at spelling school at 
East Village. 

19th. Mathias, who figured at Sing Sing, etc., has, I believe, passed 
through town lately. Mr. Post here, read Mr. Webster's speech in answer to 
J. Q. Adams on the Appropriation Bill. 

21st. Sunday, all the children at meeting. The sect called Christians 
hold a meeting in the stone house in our village to-day. Austin Kent preached 
this afternoon. Children at singing school. 

2 2d. Peddler here for the night. G. P. Farrar is failing. 

23d. Widow Peck is dangerously sick, also old Mr. Day. 

26th. All at singing school this eve. Received a letter from my people. 

27th. Mr. Hyde and wife called. The papers state that the snow is 
four or five feet deep in Oneida County, and also in the eastern states. The 
snow here is about two feet. Hay is ^20 per ton in Vermont. 

28th. Sunday, children all at meeting. 

29th. Clear and cold. Colonel Jonah Sanford here. 

March l. Moderate. Been over to town meeting. 

4th. Clarinda and Sheals gone with sleigh to Stockholm. 

5th. George P. Farrar is dead. Harmon gone to Parishville mill. The 
last day of the village school. 

6th. Sunday, cold and very blustering. I hear the doctors meet to-day 
to take off Mrs. Moon's leg. I hear R. H. Laughlin is sick, had a fit. 

7th. Dr. Smith is doctoring our colt. Mr. and Mrs. Blodgett called on 
their way to Parishville. Mrs. Green is no better. Mr. Farrar was buried to- 
day. Nathan Peck died at evening. Mr. Peck was one of the first settlers of 
this town, a member of the Congregational Church, about fifty years of age. 

8th. Widow Hopkins here assisting to make a grave robe for Nathan Peck. 
Harmon and Sheals with teams breaking roads to Mrs. Peck's, fear difficulty in 
getting down with the corpse. 

9th. All the family except myself at the funeral of Mr. Peck. Mother 
Post came to-day. 

loth. Aunt Charlotte here. Mr. Roburds takes the D. Merritt farm. 

I Ith. Mrs. R. returns in the stage, says Mrs. Green is more comfortable. 

I 2th. Mary H. watched with her mother's babe last night. A person 
passed without coat, vest or hat, singing merrily. It is said he was crazy, and I 
should say he was. Austin Kent has license to preach. 



330 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

13 th. Sunday, children all at meeting. R. Abbott with them and at 
singing school in evening. 

14th. Reuben Abbott is around again, has a lame hand. 

15th. My hay is nearly gone in my barns, not over two tons. Have 
two stacks in the east field. Winter so severe we could not feed at the stacks. 

I 6th. Harmon, his wife and Clarinda go to Potsdam after Mary. Gave 
him order on G. Parish g 5, and on H. Allen, Esq., g 1 0.40. He paid Mrs. Smith 
^15 in the whole for Mary'sboard fifteen weeks, tuition g6, other necessaries ^3. 
Widow Peck is dead. Rev. Bowles here, paid him in pork gi for Harmon on 
signment for ministerial labor. Have paid him in all gig. He had to-day 
thirty-six pounds of pork and $3 in money. 

17th. Mr. and Mrs. Stanley here from Malone. Hiram Peck's widow 
buried to-morow. [She was the mother of Hiram H. and Comer M. Peck of 
Potsdam. — Ed.] 

18th. Mary H. and Mary at R. Post's. 

19th. Snow deep, difficulty in getting hay from stack. 

20th. Sunday, children at meeting. Mother Post here. Elder Pratt 
preached, a Baptist minister. 

2 1 St. Finished drawing wood to the door. Had four months' sleighing. 

2 2d. Samuel Abbott's children here all night. Hay is §15 per ton. 

23d. Mother Post gone to Reuben Post's. Mr. Blodgett of Stockholm 
is moving to Parishville. 

24th. Mrs. Rasey has a daughter born. Mary H. and Mary there. 

25th. All at work getting wood to the village. There are 1,738,500 
acres of land in this county. 

26th. Sheals taken ten and one-half bushels of wheat to Parishville mill. 
Harmon takes the girls with sleigh to Mr. Hyde's. Drew a log to I. R. Hop- 
kins's mill and the girls home. 

27th. Sunday, all but Clarinda and myself at meeting. No signs of sugar 
weather. The snow is two feet in the woods. 

Cold, windy weather. My health is not good. The winters in this lati- 
tude are too severe for my constitution. For nearly four months the earth has 
been hard frozen and covered with snow. Deep snows and the piercing cold 
and cold, chilly winds confine me to the house. 

A Cry for Spring. 
Oh ! when will the spring return } Oh ! return and once ■ more cheer 
this sad heart. Oh ! welcome ye soft southern gales and warm solar rays. Oh ! 
hasten. Bring with thee gentle showers. Dissolve the snow. Free the ice- 
fettered earth, that again the woodman's axe, the teamster's hollow voice, the 
lowing herds and the bleating flocks shall echo in praise the coming spring. 
That again the redbreast, oh ! sweet bird return. Return with thy train of 
summer birds and grace once more with cheering songs thy long-absent bowers, 
that again all nature shall smile from winter's universal gloom, the landscape be- 
come adorned with her thousand shades of vivifying green, that man may go 
forth, wandering over his long-hidden fields with delightful and heartfelt affec- 
tions raised to that Almighty Being who is the source of all the beauty and sub- 
limity in nature. But oh I thou God of all goodness, forgive, suffer not thy puny 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 331 

creature man to arraign Thy wisdom, which shines so conspicuously in the 
changing seasons with equal grandeur in winter as in summer. 

z8th. Borrowed Mr. Brush's three-inch auger, also Deacon Moon's saw. 

zgth. Hooping sap tubs. Women making candles. 

31st. Pleasant day. Rider and Bruce cutting wood at the door. Mr. 
Harbcrson, the peddler, here, traded nearly fj, paid ^3. Tapping the sugar 
bush. 

April I . Pleasant. E. Post has a yoke of my four-year-old steers to use 
for their keeping till his spring's work is done. 

2d. Robins sing this morning. Sleighing is mostly over for this season. 

3d. Sunday, pleasant, wet under foot. Harmon and Sheals at meeting. 

4th. Get a hive of bees of widow Sheldon. Saw two deer in the east field. 
Put the oven wood into woodhouse. 

5th. Pigeons are about. Set fires in the east field. Take hides to A. 
Durrell. Eldred Baker here to-day. Made twenty pounds of sugar. 

[In early days there were vast numbers of pigeons in these parts. They 
came from the south in the last of April and first of May and remained till not 
late in the fall. Many elderly people tell me of seeing them flying in such mul- 
titudes as to actually shut out the light of the sun to a perceptible extent. They 
were killed in large numbers by the settlers. When grain was ripening and after 
harvesting, they would come to such fields in flocks of many thousands, first 
alighting in near-by trees. The hunter would creep upon them from behind a 
fence or bush and vs'hen ready cry out and just as they rose fire his gun filled 
with shot. My father, Jonah Sanford, told me of killing eighteen at one dis- 
charge in this way. Edward B. Gray, very nearly eighty years of age, tells me 
that he often killed ten or a dozen at a single firing when flying. His favorite 
method of getting them, however, was to catch them in a net. This he did by 
harrowing a piece of ground say ten by twenty feet, making it very level and 
sowing wheat thickly upon the surface. Close to one end he made a hiding 
place for himself with evergreens or bushes. At the other end stakes were driven 
into the ground to hold one end of the net. The net had side pieces of heavy 
wood, two or three feet in length to hold it down when pulled out and so it 
would fold up over by the stakes. To the near end of the net was attached a 
cord, and when the ground was covered with pigeons he gave a lusty pull, straight- 
ening out the net and covering the pigeons. Many would be too quick for him, 
and yet he often caught as many as fifty at a time. Their roosting and breeding 
places were a little back in the edge of the main forest, oftentimes covering many 
acres. Some hunters would find these and when the young pigeons were full 
grown, though yet unable to fly, fell the trees and thus capture hundreds of them. 
After some years they began to grow less in numbers, and about forty years ago 
they ceased to come. There were a few when I was a boy, but I have not seen 
or heard of one in many years. Why they quit coming or what has become of them 
is more than I can tell. No one thinks they were killed ofl^ or that they quit 
through fear of the hunter, as they were simple and not easily frightened. — Ed.] 

April 7. Surveying for I. R. Hopkins. Miss Putman and others here. 

8th. Sap runs well. Men at sugar place. Stage on wheels. 

9th. Summer birds are singing. Hay $\o per ton. 

loth. Sunday, stormy, no one at meeting. Mr. Bruce has twelve and 
one-half cents to buy spirits for his sick wife. Perhaps her case requires it 



332 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

ilth. E. Phelps wants assistance in drawing barn. Harmon goes with 
his team. Stage on runners. C. S. Chittenden loses some sheep from the 
cold. Clarinda feels poorly, says but little. 

13th. Dr. Brooks's two daughters here yesterday. Gave our eldest 
daughter, Mary, in marriage to Asahel H. Chittenden, son of Solomon Chitten- 
den. Married by the Rev. Joel Green of Parishville. All parties agree. All 
amicable as far as we know. 

14th. Sleigh runs well. Young people take a ride. Paid A. Sheldon 
thirty-four cents on school bill. Austin Kent preaches in Massena. 

15th. Mrs. R. and Clarinda go to Mr. B. Moon's. Samuel Eastman 
and his son's wife, Susan, here. Sealed three measures for him and one for 
Mr. Bowles ; all took dinner. 

1 6th. Stage on runners and at full speed. Hay very scarce. Some have 
not even any straw left. Corn sells for ^i; rye, seventy-five cents ; oats, forty- 
two cents. Many cattle must die and are dying for want of food. It is said 
the present winter exceeds the hard winter of 1780 in severity. The Newburg 
Gazette, Orange County, says hundreds of cattle are dying for want of fodder, 
and that the average depth of snow and ice is now and has been for one hun- 
dred and twenty-one days about three feet over the whole county. A Boston 
paper says there is ice in the streets formed from the snow that fell November 3, 
more than four months ago, and good sleighing more than a third of a year. 

17th. Dr. Sprague passed in his cutter. No one at meeting. No preach- 
ing. Snow is off in spots. 

1 8th. Mr. Rasey is not expected to live. Asahel takes Mary to his father's. 
19th. Mary H. gone to Parishville in stage, Clarinda to the village. 

Should be pleased to learn Mary's feelings on leaving her father's house. 

20th. I drank cold water with my breakfast. I am firmly persuaded that 
pure water is the most natural and most healthful drink. I am fond of tea. 

zist. Drove young cattle to the other place. Meribah Greene here. 

2 2d. Wind and snow. Our seasons are very fluctuadng. I have known 
years when cattle could get sufficient feed in the last days ot April. Last season 
I fed hay to my cattle to the last days of May. Hear that C. S. Chittenden's 
youngest child is dead, about one year of age. We have a book, " The Young 
Man's Guide." I wish all our young people could read it. 

23d. Asahel after Mary H. to assist in preparations of fijneral of C. S. 
Chittenden's child. He says that Mary is contented, and that his people are 
pleased with her, which also pleases us. Snows merrily. 

24th. We are having a Siberian spring on the back of a Siberian winter. 

25th. E. Post returns the oxen, has no hay to feed them. 

26th. Have two tons of hay here and half a ton at the other place yet 
left. Austin Kent is very sick at Massena. 

28th. Made fence on Hopkins's land ; also on Deacon Warner's. 

2gth. Clarinda is with Mary. Asahel has gone to New York. 

30th. Surveyed for Mr. Chittenden; fee ^i.oo. 

May I. Sunday, children all at meeting. 

8th. Surveying last week at Parishville for Mr. Parish. Surveying this 
week for Mr. Parish at $2 per day and board. 

14th. Surveyed for Mr. Parish by order of J. A. Sawyer. The fires 
raged on Wednesday last. Mr. Warner lost his barn, wagon, harness, etc. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 333 

15 th. Currant bushes are leafing. Forest trees show a change of color. 

1 6th. Growing time. Sowed four bushels of wheat at the other place. 

1 8th. Set out for Parishville in the stage. Surveying for Mr. Parish. J. 
A. Sawyer, Mr. Parish's agent, paid me §20. 

2 2d. Sunday, Mrs. R. and the children at meeting. 

28th. Surveyed three days for Mr. Parish. The boys have chopped 
logs in the hollow and planted potatoes since I left. 

29th. Sunday, the boys at meeting. James Squire preaches in the village. 

30th. Had half bushel of seed corn from J. Remington. 

31st. Planting corn. Mrs. Greene and Meribah, Mary and Asahel, 
Colonel Jonah Sanford and wife here. 

June I . Farmers complain of a little worm eating the corn. Eliphalet 
Brush has ploughed his cornfield and sowed to wheat. 

2d. Apple trees in blow. Leaves put forth fast. 

3d. Clarinda came from Parishville. Darius Kent had two pigs at 
seventy-five cents each. 

5th. Sunday, pleasant day, children all at meeting. 

6th. Harmon at training. R. Lawrence had two bushels of potatoes at 
2s. i>d. per bushel. 

7th. Shearing sheep. Susan picking wool with our women. 

9th. Harmon and Mrs. R. gone to mill at Parishville. Barney Moon's 
wife died yesterday. 

loth. Slashing. Attended the funeral of Mrs. Moon. 

I Ith. Sold the large oxen for §90. 

12th. Sunday, all at meeting except Mrs. R. Asahel and Mary here. 

I 8th. Have surveyed six days the past week for Mr. Parish. 

23d. Mr. Day from Genesee put up with us. Surveyed for Mr. Parish 
near East Village. Mr. Naylor has come from New York. 

26th. Sunday, all except women to meeting. Deacon Moon and Elder 
Pratt took tea. Hear a man has been murdered on the Port Kent road. 

27th. Been to Parishville. J. A. Sawyer paid me %\o on account. 
Paid Hosea Brooks and Perkins for salt, ^2.25. 

July 2. Surveyed six days this week for Mr. Parish. Mr. Chamberlain 
died to-day. Sheals after Susan Silvester to spin. 

3d. Sunday, all but Mrs. R. to meeting. Rev. Bowles preached. 

4th. Sheals and Clarinda and other young people gone to Potsdam. 

5th. Surveyed for Henry Moon. Rider and Bruce take a job of clear- 
ing twelve acres fit for plough or drag for ^90. 

6th. Surveying for Mr. Short. Sent Judge Fine %\z in a letter. 

7th. L R. Hopkins returns from the west. 

9th. Handed Asahel ^5 for Mary. Mrs. Roburds and Mrs. Bruce here. 

loth. Sunday, all but Mrs. R. and John Sheals at meeting. 

1 2th. John Roburds assists me surveying. Paid him seven pounds in 
pork. Paid peddler for Mrs. R. and Clarinda, $4.59. 

13th. Harmon and wife gone to Malone. Surveying for D. Kent. 

I 5th. Mr. Rasey wants to sell me his farm. Jesse Moon caught a bear. 

1 6th. Boys shooting squirrels. Mr. Green's boy shere. Harmon returns. 

1 8th. Commenced haying. Settled with Mr. Bentley, a peddler; owe 
him ^4.47. Orange Wing had a pig at gi. 



334 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Z4th. Sunday, rainy. Mrs. R. has not risen, is unwell. 

25th. Mr. Seeley took assessment. Mowing at other place. 

27th. Solomon Chittenden and lady here to-day. Clarinda gone to 
Potsdam. Had rather she had remained at home. 

29th. Asahel and Mary took tea with us. Boys killing a calf. 

30th. Surveying for R. Kent and selling land to James Smith. 

31st. Sunday, all but Mrs. R. to meeting. Mr. Bowles preached. 

August I. Sealed three measures for J. P. Roburds, 3/. 6^'. Sent Judge 
Fine J 56 enclosed;in a letter. 

2d. Peter Post and his John with us. 

4th. P. Durfey here. Great speculation in the lead ore mine at Rossie. 

6th. Casting land for Mr. Parish. Walked from Parishville home. 

7th. Sunday, all at meeting but Mrs. R. and myself. 

8th. Asahel here. Sold as constable Peter Post's three hogs which are on 
my premises. Bid them off at J8. They are now mine lawfully. Mrs. Post 
can have them, however, by paying me the $8. They are worth Jjio. 

9th. Making map of the Short Tract for the assessors. 

13th. Surveyed three days for Mr. Parish at Parishville. 

15th. Assisting the assessors. Peter Post paid me §5, redeeming hogs. 

20th. Surveyed four days this week for Mr. Parish. 

27th. Surveyed five days this week for Mr. Parish. James A. Sawyer 
paid me $2S O" account. Had a frost the week past. 

31st. Sheals and Rider's boys making brooms. Maria Abbott here. 
Boys reaping wheat. 

September i . Have now twelve in the family. Set two tables for break- 
fast, dinner and supper. 

2d. Ate breakfast at sunrise. Post cradling oats and Harmon reaping. 

4th. Sunday, all but Mrs. R. at meeting. Sacrament day. Rev. 
Bowles officiated. 

5th. Training at the village. Have not attended before in fifteen years. 

6th. Hard frost. Finished reaping wheat. R. Abbott here. 

7th. The frost on the 6th was severe. Corn is mostly destroyed. 

8th. Rider and Bruce wish to give up their job. I allow them to do so 
and pay them ^37 for what they have done. 

14th. Harmon and Sheals off training at Potsdam. Reaping and logging. 

I 8th. Sunday, all the family at meeting. Mr. Pettibone preached. 

24th. Surveyed six days this week for Mr. Parish. 

z6th. Harmon gone to Montreal with Chittenden's cattle. C. S. 
Chittenden takes a pair of three-year-old steers at J 50. Paid $2^ on bill for 
Mary's furniture. 

2gth. Rode in stage to Parishville in morning. 

October i. Received of James A. Sawyer $^ for surveying for Mr. 
Parish. Paid W. Dewey $^ for boots. [Mr. Sawyer was Mr. George 
Parish's local agent at this time. — En.j 

2d. Sunday, Sheals at meeting. Harmon returned from Montreal. 

8th. Surveyed six days this week for Mr. Parish. Received of F. 
Parker ^15 to apply on the Blair farm. Cold. Boys digging potatoes. 

9th. Sunday, children at meeting at Parishville. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 335 

13th. Finished digging potatoes. Ground covered with snow. Mary 
sick. Mrs. Rasey weaving. 

14th. Showery. Husking corn. Went out with my gun. 

15 th. A gentleman from Ogdensburg here viewing the Short Tract. Been 
out with him. He paid me $1. 

1 6th. Sunday, boys at meeting. 

I 8th. Boys digging potatoes for Reuben Post. Mrs. Rasey weaving. 

20th. Mrs. Naylor had ten and one-half pounds of pork. Witherell had 
one and one-half pounds of butter. D. Meacham here. Some snow. 

2 2d. Have put into cellar one hundred and fifty bushels of turnips. 

23d. Children at meeting. Miss Meacham here. 

24th. Sheals and I have worked for Reuben Post. 

25th. Miss Witherell came to weave. Paid Miss Meacham seventy-five 
cents for her work. Mr. Jones here making boots. 

26th. Boys thrashing for mill. Received some deeds from Judge Fine. 

27th. I am doing off a room in my woodhouse, may live in it. Mary 
Chittenden here to-day. 

28th. Mr. Jones has made Harmon, Sheals and John each a pair of 
oarse boots and Harmon and Clarinda eacli a pair of shoes. His bill J54.75, 
cor which 1 receipted on his land account. Paid Aaron Warner $42.82 for 
ftwenty-four sheep. Took twelve sheep of Mr. Butler for four years. These 
are the same though doubled. Deacon Warner bought the bill I gave Mr. But- 
ler. Strive not for riches. They are often left to thankless heirs. 

29th. Orange Wing had fourteen pounds of pork. The ground is hard 
fi-ozen. Many potatoes are yet in the ground. 

30th. All at meeting but Mrs. R. and myself Mr. Burnap preached. 

31st. Reuben Post at work on house. Harmon at mill. 

November I . Received three letters from Judge Fine. 

2d. Had clapboards of J. Peck, $3.01. Gave A. Jenne $1 to get hme. 

3d. William, John Sheals and myself dug turnips for Reuben Post. 

4th. Art. Kent digging potatoes with a crowbar. 

6th. Sunday, Mr. Taylor preached. Mr. Witherell brings six bushels of 
lime from Matildaville [Coltonj. 

8th. Second day of election. Building and bedroom back of woodhouse. 

9th. Afternoon all at election. 

I zth. Lathing the new building. W. G. Richardson paid for deed. 

13th. Sunday, all at meeting save Mrs. R. and myself. Darius Kent 
took his deed in the evening. Paid to a peddler $10 for ten yards of comblet, 
eight and one-half yards green flannel. Old Mrs. Fisk is sick. 

1 6th. Many potatoes frozen in the ground. Plastering new building. 

19th. Benjamin Sanford here for land. 

20th. Sunday, children all at meeting. 

2 1 St. Harmon assisting Elias Post kill hogs. 

22d. Lathed the bedroom. R. Hayden pays ^25 on land. Mary has 
finished my cloak, cost $12. 

23d. R. Post has built the chimney in my building. 

24th. Surveyed for J. Trussell. 

26th. Stage on runners. R. Witherell had two pounds of butter. 

27th. Sunday, all at meeting. Mr. Wheat put up for the night. 



336 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

28th. Harmon moving the Murrays into a log hut on the Turnpike. 
Clarinda commences school. 

29th. Sent Judge Fine ^35 by letter. Court at the village. The plaintiff 
is Wheat. Wheat was made to ride a rail. Paid Julius Peck J2.10 for forty- 
two lights window sash. 

30th. Great doings at the village. The riot suit is still going on. Asa 
Sheldon pays ^44. 88 on land. [Mr. Wheat, I am told, was a peddler and 
very unpopular. The young men rode him on a rail for some reason and were 
arrested and tried for a riot. I hear Judge Sanford prosecuted. — Ed.] 

December i . John commenced school. Clarinda boards with her sister 
Mary. Mary is unwell. 

5th. Received six deeds from Judge Fine. Bought eleven sheep from 
Peter Post for g l 8. 50. Reuben Post pays six and one-fourth cents to Bible Society. 

7th. Mrs. Fisk died last evening, a good old lady. 

8th. Mary H. at Mr. Fisk's making graveclothes. Reuben Post had auc- 
tion to-day. 

9th. Attended funeral of Mrs. Fisk. Paid A. H. Chittenden my tax. 

I Ith. All but John Sheals and myself at meeting. 

I 3th. It is said that there are some people in Stockholm who claim they 
can and who are trying to raise the dead. I have a shop stove of C. S. Chit- 
tenden to use awhile. 

[I learn from several elderly people that there were quite a number of per- 
sons who associated themselves into a sect or religious body and styled them- 
selves "The Little Band."' The leaders in the movement, as I learn from 
Emanuel Steenberge, now eighty-seven years of age, who met with them now 
and then though he never joined them, were Ebenezer Hulburd, the pioneer, his 
sons JuHus, Calvin, Ebenezer (his sons Hiram and Harmon did not join), and 
daughters Clarissa, Lucina and Mary ; Colonel U. H. Orvis of Massena ; 
Isaac Tilden, wife and several children ; Butler Hubbard of Lawrence ; Rev. 
Austin Kent and Waity Kent and many others. Many of these were mem- 
bers of the Congregational Church at East Stockholm and felt and believed that 
their church was not living up to its high calling as a Bible teacher and Christian- 
izer and so left and formed this Band. They often met for Bible reading, 
prayer and teaching at the home of Ebenezer Hulburd and also in the homes of 
other members. At one time, as I am told by several elderly people, they be- 
lieved and taught that they could raise the dead and actually made a prolonged 
effort to do so in the cemetery grounds over the body of a young girl. The so- 
ciety held together with gently vanishing fortunes, for some twenty years, as I 
am advised. — Ed.] 

14th. J. P. Roburds and R. Squire came to plaster room. 

15th. Thanksgiving Day. Paid Peter Post §13 for the sheep I bought. 

17th. Killed a beef. A. Durrell had one hundred and forty pounds at 
four cents and the hide eighty pounds at five cents. 

I 8th. Sunday, children at meeting in sleigh. 

2zd. Sealed a half bushel for Orin Andrews. 

23d. The rioters are cleared. Women making candles. 

25th. Sunday, children at meeting in wagon. 

28th. Killed four hogs. Elias Post and Upham assisted. 

29th. Meribah Greene here now. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 337 

The Year t837 — Sends to Vermont for a Cook Stove — Mr. Blaisdell fcrooght 
it and it cost $26 — Mr. Wilkinson, the Tailor, cuts Coats and Pants — 
Eli Rofaords (Roberts), a Pioneer, dies suddenly ^ — A man deeply in debt 
loses his Independence — Running Horses — Death of Mrs. Henry C. 
Greene — Visits Old Camp, a Tender Tribute — Death of David Covey, 
October 22 — Harmon takes Mrs. Tatney and three Children to Poorhouse 
— Rev. Montague engaged — Hunting Wolves — The Patriot War in 
Canada. 

January 1 . Sunday, all at meeting but John and myself. Paid R. Lenox 
tax, ^8. He will pay T. Hall & Co. ^4 for the Spectator for me. 

3d. Drew deed to Aaron Warner of lot I sold him. 

5th. Boys cutting and drawing wood. Mr. Young here from Vermont. 
Been to Jenne's and Roburds's to get contract signed. 

7th. Been to Deacon Hobart's myself Harmon to Parishville. 

8th. Sunday, Harmon, wife and cousins at meeting. 

Ilth. Seth Putnam paid $24. 52 on land. Benjamin Sanford paid me 
%z fee on sale of land. 

I 2th. Harmon gone to Ogdensburg. 

14th. Sent to Mr. Brown by Sheals one dollar for the Bible Society, 
also the six and one-quarter cents paid me by R. Post. 

1 6th. Sent to Vermont for a cook stove. Owe R. Lawrence $1.13 
for shoeing horses. 

2 2d. Sunday, have six inches of snow. Children at meeting. 

28 th. All hands cutting and getting wood to the door. 

29th. Sunday, all but Mrs. R. and myself at meeting. 

31st. We are all sick to-day. Mr. Blaisdell has brought the stove. It 
has every appearance of a good one. Paid him §26. Sold Mr. Selleck twenty 
bushels of oats for ^10. 

February \. W. M. Gould paid me for William Short ^25. 

2d. Paid Isaac Snell ;?l.93 to balance all accounts. 

4th. Reuben Post has my oxen to go to Parishville. 

5th. Sunday, children at Mr. M.'s funeral. 

6th. Sold the Dow farm on the Turnpike to Rufiis Greene for ^1 13.16. 
Paid Phineas Durfey fifty cents for seed corn. 

7 th. Mother and Charlotte Post here. 

8th. Sent to Judge Fine ^50 by letter. 

9th. Mr. Wilkinson here, cut two coats and a pair of pantaloons. He 
had two pounds of lard, twenty-five cents. 

loth. A. Remington paid balance on his land, ^38. Mrs. Rasey has a 
cloak of Mrs. Risdon. 

ilth. Harmon and Sheals take twenty bushels of oats to sell it at 
Parishville. 

12th. Sunday, children at meeting. Asahel and Mary here in eve. 

14th. Wheat is ^2 per bushel, corn $1. 50, rye Jl. I 2 i^, oats fifty cents. 

1 5th. Mr. Wilkinson has one hundred and twenty-seven pounds of beef 
at four cents. Made a map for Mrs. Naylor, fifty cents. 

1 6th. Had of Mrs. Naylor one hundred and thirty-four pounds stove- 
pipe, twenty-five cents per pound. 

17th. Storm continues with unabated violence. Snow is deep. 

1 8th. People are all breaking roads. 



338 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

1 9th. Sunday, children at meeting. 

20th. Jasper Brownell pays ^33 on Mr. Short's account. 

21st. Received of Mr. Moflit $^0 on land contracted to Joseph Brownell 
in 1827. He sold it to Mr. Wing, and Mr. Wing sold it to Mr. Norris, and 
Mr. Norris to Mr. Moffit. 

2zd. Mrs. R. cleaning the new room. 

23d. Moved into our new room, that is, Mrs. R. and myself. 

24th. Lodged in the new room last night for the first time, rather lonely. 
Snow is deep, bad watering cattle. 

26th. Sunday, there was a severe storm in England the 25th and 26th. 

28th. Severe cold. Received two letters from Judge Fine. 

March I. Smith and Murray thrashing. Mary and Asahel here. 

3d. Cleaned up twenty-five bushels of wheat. Sold Mr. Johnson the 
farm taken by Vaughan at ^2.50 per acre. Murray had twelve pounds meal. 

5th. Stmday, children at meeting save John. 

7th. Town meeting day. Eli Roburds, one of the first settlers of this 
town, fell and expired without a struggle. 

9th. The family are all at the funeral of Eli Roburds. 

I Ith. John Post at work for me cutting and piling stove wood. 

I 3th. Sheals and John have been at school for better than three months. 

1 6th. Mrs. R. at Ira Smith's in Stockholm. 

20th. Drew oven wood. Snow eighteen inches. 

22d. Sealed half bushel for Orin Andrews, twelve and one half cents. 

24th. Drew sap tubs to the works. 

26th. Children at meeting in wagon. Clarinda returned with them. 
No more school at present. 

29th. Making sugar these days. I made broom in afternoon. 

April I . Harmon painting the house. 

2d. Sunday, children at meeting. Jane Peck is sick. 

3d. H. Sheldon's wife died this morning. 

4th. Harmon, wife and Clarinda at funeral of Mrs. Sheldon. Ingram 
finished thrashing the wheat, thirty-eight bushels in all. 

6th. Jane Peck died this morning. She was a promising girl of eighteen. 

8 th. The family are at the funeral of Jane Peck except myself. 

loth. Sugaring. Sarah Sheals came from Ogdensburg. 

13th. Mary came, is quilting. Sheals, John and myself cut 200 rails. 

16th. Sunday, children at meeting in wagon. 

19th. Sealed four measures for Joe Gould. Harmon whitewashing. 

2ist. Ground covered with snow. Have fourteen fine pigs. A man 
deeply in debt has lost his independence. 

22d. Harmon ploughing for E. Post. 

23d. Sunday, boys at meeting. 

26th. Surveyed for Rufijs Greene, fee gl.25. 

27th. Harmon and Mrs. R. to Parishville mill. Noah Post has two 
bushels of wheat at j!2 per bushel. 

29th. Grass begins to show green in places. Gathered the sap tubs. 

May 2. Took potash kettle to Asahel Kent. 

5th. Thunder shower. E. and I. Squire had ten bushels of wheat. 
Had a half bushel of grass seed of Mr. Corwin at ;Jl3 per bushel. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 339 

9th. Some old snow in sight yet. Harmon surveying in Lawrence. 

1 2th. Surveying for C. S. Chittenden. Paid T. H. Laughlin, P. M., 
^l to be credited on postage account. 

13th. Been to J. Trussell's, paid me ^4 for surveying. 

14th. Sunday, pleasant. Been to meeting. 

15th. Eldred Baker had one hundred pounds of pork at ^15, also four 
and one-half bushels of wheat ^9. 

1 6th. Hunger enters not the workingman's door. 

17th. J. P. Roburds at work for me. 

2zd. Harmon at C. Thomas's, drawing building. 

24th. Benjamin Bruce here. Planting potatoes. 

28th. Sunday, been to meeting. Mr. Taylor preached. 

30th. Noah and Elias Post at work for me on bedroom and buttery. 
Washed sheep. 

June 3. Harran and his brother logging. Plastered the buttery. 

5th. Jesse Moon paid J14 on land account. Shearing sheep. 

8th. Women picking wool. Mrs. R. is an industrious woman. 

iith. Sunday, been to meeting. Pleasant day. 

13 th. All hands at work on road, two yoke of oxen. 

17th. Training day. No work to-day. 

1 8th. Sunday, all at meeting. 

20th. Received a deed for Mr. Harran from Judge Fine. 

2 2d. Harmon at East Village after rolls. Let Clarinda have 25 cents. 
26th. Surveyed for Mr. Moffit, fee ^1.25. 

29th. Hoeing potatoes. Assessors here. 

July I . John Post at Pierrepont. They are to run horses to-day, poor 
business. Mrs. R. is at Mrs. Snell's who is sick. 

3d. Lcc Eastman had difliculty at the hill. Roswell Eastman is sick. 

4th. A. S. Harran paid ^83 on land account. Orange Wing is feeble. 

5th. Surveyed for W. Dewey, fee J 1.50. P. Durfey and lady here. 

7th. Surveyed for W. Eastman, fee $1. Sent Judge Fine $103 by letter. 

9th. Sunday, all but Mrs. R. at meeting. 

loth. Sent a budget of contracts to Judge Fine by Colonel Sanford. 

14th. Harmon shot at a deer. Making curb to the well. 

17th. A. Parmelee preached a lecture. 

I 8th, Harmon surveying for A. Parmelee. 

2 2d. Harmon and I surveying for Mr. Howard, 

Z3d. Sunday, all at meeting. 

24th. Attended court as witness at East Village. Have begun haying. 

29th. Wrote to my Genesee people. Surveyed for Gaius Sheldon. 

30th. Sunday. He that is slow to wrath is of great understanding. 

August I . Very warm. Haying proceeds well. Keep clear from debt 
and remain your own master. A man in debt is a slave to his creditors, 

7th. It is thought Mrs. Greene will not live long. Mrs. R. is there. 

1 2th. Hear that Mrs. Greene died this morning. Went into cedar 
swamp, mosquitoes drove us out. 

13th. The family are at the funeral of Mrs. Greene. She was a cousin 
of Mrs. R. and hved a near neighbor several years. 



340 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

1 4th. Baldwin and Roburds haying at my other place. Those who live 
by wit may fail for want of stock. 

17th. I have performed the best day's work to-day in some time, have 
raked hay. Heaven counteracts our plans for some greater purpose. vLove 
labor, exercise is the best medicine. 

zoth. Sunday, all at meeting. Asahel and Mary here in the eve. 

26th. Finished haying to-day. Settled with Benjamin Bruce. 

27th. Sunday, all at meeting. A. Parmelee preached. 

29th. Surveying for J. Roburds. Sent Judge Fine $^6 by letter. 
Harmon and Sheals at the military drill at Potsdam. 

September I. Surveyed the Converse farm. Reaping wheat. 

4th. Frost this morning. Training day, no one on the farm. 

5 th. Harmon gone to Parishville with cloth to clothiers. Boys reaping. 
I bound some. Boys will reap for E. Post. 

I ith. Heavy rain. Gave Harmon a five-franc piece for 73 cents. 

13th. Boys all at training at Potsdam. Craddled Indian wheat. There 
is no gloom in true religion, far from it. It gives life, love and joy. 

20th. Came from Canton, fare for myself and horse gl.50. Have as 
little to do in law matters as possible. 

24th. Sunday, children and myself at meeting. 

30th. Been surveying the past week for Mr. Parish at ;^2 per day. 
James A. Sawyer paid me $4 for Mr. Parish. 

October l. Sunday, attended the funeral of Asahel Kent's youngest child. 
Mr. Lawren preached. 

2d. Circus exhibition at the village. Paid John Post twenty-five cents 
and also Sarah Sheals for not drinking tea. 

4th. Cold. Killed a deer, the first time since 1832. 

6th. Digging potatoes. C. S. Chittenden takes six head cattle at J 130. 

8th. Sunday, Mr. Hunt, a peddler, here over the Sabbath. 

9th. Bought the book in which I am writing of a peddler. Sent by 
Asahel Chittenden, who goes to New York, for a rifle. Hard frost. Badly 
hurt all corn not cut. 

I 5th. Clarinda came to-day, been with Mary a few days past. 

17th. Mrs. R. at Mr. Baldwin's. C. S. Chittenden takes a yoke of 
oxen at $70. David Covey is sick. 

19th. Received of Aaron Warner J 1 9. 20 in full for land. 

Z2d. Harmon, Mrs. R. and myself at David Covey's. He died at 
I I A. M. while we were there. 

23d. Gathered two hundred bushels of turnips and three hundred 
bushels of corn in the ear. Good yield for three and a half acres. 

24th. Family at funeral of David Covey. He married a sister of Mrs. 
Risdon in Vermont, came to this county in I 804, and has been a resident of 
this town nearly thirty years. He buried his father here in 181 I. Since then 
he has buried his mother, his wife and two of his children. His son, Solon, 
died of the smallpox in Orleans County last fall, aged twenty-seven. 

28th. Plastering bedroom. Boys cutting stove wood. Asahel Chittenden 
returns from New York. 

29th. Sunday, widow Tatney and three children here over Sabbath. 

30th. Asahel Chittenden brings me a rifle; got it in Lansingburg for ^15. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 



34> 



31st. Harmon takes Mrs. Tatney and her three children to poorhouse. 

November 3. Surveying for Mr. Short. Sheals and John with me. 
Built a surveyor's shanty. Got some plank and boards of Jesse Moon. 

7th. Drew some boards to my surveyor's shanty in the south woods. 

loth. Surveying. Shot and wounded a deer. 

1 2th. Sunday, young people at meedng. H. C. Green appears to be in 
want of a wife, is hazing about. 

Visits Old Camp. 

I 5th. Surveying for W. Short, Township fourteen, Hopkinton. Passed 
the ruins of a hunting shanty built by Amasa Blanchard, Esq. , in the fall of I 8 1 6. 
I occupied the shanty with him on conditions that he should have a certain share 
of the game caught in company. I also occupied the shanty for several years 
after as the only proprietor and claimed the wilds around as my hunting ground 
For ten years previous to this I had not visited my old habitation. I found the 
roof fallen in and mostly mouldered away, the walls of the building partially fallen 
and all covered with moss. Within the walls, among the remnants of the fallen 
roof, the thistle and the brier had grown and seemed to hang their weeping heads 
over the place where the hunter was wont to repose. In the yard and around 
where the original forest trees had been cut away for fuel, the second growth of 
timber, such as the poplar, birch and cherry, had grown to some height. All 
seemed pensive and lonely. A few partridges were quietly feeding on the little 
ground berries that grew around. The raven croaked in upper air, the solemn 
moan of the wind in the evergreen tops, the plaintive wild song of the jay as 
she nimbly perched from tree to tree, the little purling rill where we were wont 
to go for water as it wound its course along, sometimes under ground, as if 
modest and wishing to hide, chanted the same pleasing sound as of former times. 
All seemed to express a cordial welcome return and to whisper and say, " Why 
so long absent.?" Here, too, stood the old hollow birch in its majestic gran- 
deur, upon whose side a stroke from the axe would cause a sound to vibrate far 
away through the wild woods and guide in the benighted hunter. Soon there 
will be no trees, and every vestige of the hunter's camp will be obliterated. I 
could hardly restrain the falling tear in this solitude. My friend Blanchard is no 
more. Thou, like the works of thine hands, art also mouldering. How sweetly 
thou slumberest in yonder graveyard. I have outlived old time and thee. I did 
love thee, I love thee still. How pleasingly I am reminded ! 

17th. Been surveying the past few days, Sheals and John with me. O. 
B. Moon has paid for his farm. 

2 1st. Great rain. Thrashing grain for mill. Boihng cider. 

24th. Corwin raised his house. Severe cold weather. 

26th. Sunday, been to meeting. Mr. Montague preached, who, we 
expect, will continue with us awhile. 

28th. John Post gone to Picrrepont. The probability is he will live with 
us no longer. Clarinda at school, boards with her sister Mary. 

2gth. Been out with my gun, killed a deer. 

30th. Thanksgiving Day, been to meeting. Mr. Montague will preach 
to us for a year. 



342 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

December 4. Surveyed for Albert and Hiram Sheldon. Judge Sanford 
pays JI50 on land account, and I send it, a fifty-dollar bill, to Judge Fine in a 
letter. J. Roburds raised a log barn. 

8th. Surveyed for Mr. MofBt, R. Newton and others. Killed nothing. 
Sold land for W. Oliver. 

iith. Hunting. Slept in shanty with five others. Killed nothing. Re- 
ceived three newspapers from my sister Charlotte. 

16th. Stage on runners. G. C. Covey here. 

1 8th. Been out with my gun. There seems to be a war in Canada. 
Paid John Post $J , balance due him for work the past season. Killed hogs. 

2 I St. Harmon drives his eleven yearlings from the other place. He has 
also fifteen calves. I winter at the old barn four cows, five steers and two horses. 

2zA. Yesterday the people were hunting wolves. To-day several are 
after the hunters, who it is said have their ktt and fingers frozen. They are 
five miles south of here. The wolf is caught. Harmon and Sheals getting 
wood for the minister. It is said that the wolf that was killed yesterday had de- 
stroyed fifty sheep lately. 

26th. Mr. Wheelock cutting stove wood for me. It is said that one of 
the wolf hunters who froze his feet will have to have his leg amputated. 

30th. Been hunting three days in succession, saw but one deer and killed 
it. Deer are more scarce than what they were once. Five seasons preceding 
this I have hunted none. 

31st. Sunday, been to meeting, sacrament administered. 

[The firing of guns which he heard was in what is known as the Patriot 
War of 1837—40. Many peop'e in the Canadian provinces, feeling aggrieved at 
the way they were treated, sought to bring about certain reforms in the govern- 
ment. They went to that extent in their demands that they were arrested, 
and in such numbers that they filled the prisons. Instead of pacifying them, 
these wholesale arrests intensified and aggravated the discontent. 

There were then as now a good many people on this side the river who 
were looking for a pretext to invade Canada, some because it was an English 
province, some for pillage and plunder, and others for the glory and honor 
which follow war. Many Canadians also fled to this side for safety and also to 
enlist others in their cause. 

The British steamboat "Sir Robert Peel" was boarded by these patriots. 
May 30, 1838, while at the dock at Wells Island, in Jefferson County, and 
burned. This act came near making a rupture between the two governments, but 
was soon amicably arranged. The patriots from Syracuse, Oswego and other 
villages came down the lake and river in November, 1838, on two schooners 
with war munitions hidden from view in boxes. After a day or so of weak and 
inefficient action without order or any plan of action, the schooners got over to 
the Canadian shore and one of them stranded near the Wind Mill, a stone for- 
tress a mile or so below Prescott, which they captured and hid themselves 
within. The British stormed them in and about this Mill for five days and 
nights. The patriots made a gallant and determined defence, and only sur- 
rendered when provisions and munitions had been consumed. There were fif- 
teen of the British killed and sixty-five wounded, and of the patriots I am un- 
able to ascertain. There were one hundred and fifty to sixty of the patriots 
who surrendered November 13, 1838, and were taken to Kingston, Ont., for 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 343 

trial. A very large part of them were sentenced to be hung. Those who 
were not seem in every case to have been young men. However, only a few, 
eight or ten, were actually hung. A few were released, quite a number par- 
doned and about fifty transported to Van Dieman's Land, where they suffered 
incredible hardships and numbers of them died. After some years those who 
had survived were also pardoned. In the list of those who surrendered at least 
nine-tenths of them are given residence in this state. Surely they should be 
called patriots when nine Americans join one oppressed Canadian to help him 
whip his government. Among those transports was John Thomas of Madrid, 
a brother of the wife of Friend Warner of Hopkinton. He survived his imprison- 
ment and was a soldier again in our late Civil War. — Ed.] 

The Year J838 — Marriage of David Daggett and Merifaah Greene — Mr. Wil- 
kinson Preaching — A Wolf Hunt — Wolves in Potsdam — Mr. Gray's Ex- 
perience — Young People much engaged in Religion — Fare to Canton and 
return by Stage, $2.50 — Orange Wing dies February J6 — Eliphalel BrtJsh 
joins Church — Doctor bleeds Mrs. Risdon — Drew^ Barn on lower place to 
south part of Farm — Goes to his Relatives in Ontario County — Account of 
Trip — Mrs. Ptiineas Durfey dies September 27 — Goes hunting. 

January I . Russell Kent came from the west with his family to Asahel 
Kent's last evening. 

2d. David Daggett was married this morning to Meribah Greene. [She 
now resides with her daughter, Mrs. Vance, at Potsdam. — Ed.] 

5th. Surveyed for Mr. Corwin. Orange Wing is not expected to live. 

9th. Stage on wheels. A. Rasey here in the evening. 

1 6th. Paid my tax to Roswell A. Eastman, gll.oi. Also Colonel R. 
Lenox's tax, giz.13. I subscribe J5io for one year for minister. 

18th. Mr. Wilkinson here making mc a frock coat and pantaloons. Mr. 
Halsey, a minister, has preached here since the Circular Conference and appears 
to have awakened some seriousness among the people. 

22d. A wolf hunt and the wolf killed near Champin I. Reeve's. Ira 
Smith's two sons here. Have worked on my map of the Short Tract. 

z6th. Making another map for Judge Fine. Harmon has a fine daughter 
born this morning, all well. 

28th. Sunday, Mrs. R. and the children at meeting in sleigh. Our 
young people are much engaged in religion, assemble for prayers and conversa- 
tion on the subject most every evening. 

31st. Clarinda had twenty cents. I am cited as juror at county court 
at Canton. At work on map. 

February 5. Gave a poor man his dinner and a sparerib. Finished Judge 
Fine's map, fee $6. Religious meetings held often these days. 

loth. Went to Canton by stage on the 6th, fare there and return ^2.50. 
Expenses while there, ^1.25. Received ^4. 50, cleared seventy-five cents. 

I ith. Sunday, J. Webb and wife here. Children at meeting. 

13th. Sheals, John and Sarah gone to Malone. Sealed a measure for 
Nathaniel Baldwin. 

1 6th. Sent ^5 by John Sheals to Mr. Culver for Herald and credit. 
Orange Wing is dead. He died of consumption supposed to have been brought 
on by slashing in the summer of 1836. 



344 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

23d. Ros. Petdbone is in town. Aunt Charlotte here. Mary and our 
little granddaughter came in to see us. 

25th. Sunday, children at meeting. Mr. Montague is sick. 

March 3. Cutting and drawing cedar rails. Split 100 rails myself. 

4th. Sunday, been to meeting. 

5th. S. Abbott and his wife here in the evening. 

6th. Town meeting day. Had twenty-two bushels of rye. 

9th. Attended a lecture preparatory to sacrament. 

loth. M. Blair, with a thrashing machine, thrashed eighty shocks of 
wheat for me. 

Iith. Sunday, sacrament administered, four joined the church, Eliphalet 
Brush and three others. 

1 zth. Cleaned up fifty-six bushels of wheat for myself. Blair is thrash- 
ing Harmon's wheat. 

13th. Mrs. R. has been at Asahel Chittenden's since Friday last. 

Wolves in Early Times, 

[Edward B. Gray of Potsdam was born in Dorset, Vt., May 30, 1818. 
He is very nearly eighty-five years of age and hale and hearty. His father, 
Edward Gray, was born at the same place in 1786 and settled in this town a 
half mile north of Crary Mills in 1822, some thirty rods north of the present 
residence of Zorastus Brown and on the easterly side of the road. He built 
him a log house there in the woods, and the relic of the cellar may still be seen. 

Mr. Gray gives me this interesting story as a sample of the hardship of the 
pioneers, and I do not need to ask any who know him to give it full credence. 
In 1823 or 1824, when his father had cleared about seven acres around his 
cabin, he felt that he must get some sheep to raise wool to make cloth. Ac- 
cordingly he obtained eight sheep of Mr. Thomas Conkey of Canton to double 
in four years ; that is, to return sixteen sheep at the end of that time. He 
built a pen or stockade near his house and into this he put the sheep. The very 
first night the wolves got in and killed six of the sheep. The next day, think- 
ing to save the remaining two, he covered the yard or pen with poles, but a wolf 
got in and killed one of the two sheep. The next day, in utter despair, he killed 
the remaining sheep. The deer were very plenty, coming into the clearing at 
all times, and the wolves did not need the sheep, as is shown by the fact that 
they did not eat them or even mutilate their bodies further than to chew their 
throats and suck their blood. For several years after settling there the howl of 
the wolves was of almost nightly occurrence, and until he got used to it he was 
in boyish, mortal terror. And this was less than eighty years ago and within 
eight miles of this village. — Ed.] 

14th. Sheals and myself split three hundred and thirty rails. 

1 5th. Hear I have another grandchild. Sheals goes to school. 

1 6th. Want to see my grandchild very much. 

17th. My grandchild, a healthy babe, is a daughter. 

19th. Tapping sugar trees. The commissioner of schools has called on 
me for $60 that I owe the town. 

20th. Mrs. R. returns from Asahel's. Dr. Parker called. 

23 d. Boys sugaring these days. The fields are bare of snow in spots. 

25th. Sunday, been to meeting. Mrs. R. has a very sore eye. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 345 

26th. Mr. Rider hewing timber for barn. Paid commissioner J34. 

30th. Dr. Mason bled Mrs. R., appears some better. Janette is un- 
well. She says she would like to get away from herself. 

31st. Mrs. R. is better. Girls making pies, etc. Boys sugaring. 

April I . Ground covered with snow. Made two hundred pounds sugar. 

3d. James Blanchard commences work for me at ;^io per month if he 
earns it and less if I do not think he earns it. Pigeons in great flocks flying over. 

4th. Surveying highway near I. R. Hopkins's mill. 

6th. Harmon off somewhere. Blanchard sick. 

1 ith. Old snow remains in woods and fence corners. 

1 2th. Mary and our little granddaughter here. Sheals and I split three 
hundred fence caps. 

14th. Blanchard at Orin Andrews's raising barn. Paid the tinker twelve 
and one-half cents. 

15th. Sunday, children at meeting. The robins have been about and 
sung a few tunes to us, but since the cold weather lately they are mute. 

1 6th. Hewing timber. Seldom we have such cold weather in April. 

17th. Julius Peck has come to frame the barn. 

19th. Peck, Smith, Corwin, Harmon, Blanchard and Sheals gone over 
framing barn. 

20th. Sheals takes four bushels of wheat to Parishville mill. 

22d. Sunday, Harmon to meeting in wagon. The robins are again singing. 

24th. Raised our new building. Have made 708 pounds of sugar. 

26th. John Priest pays $19.20 on his land account. 

28th. Paid Dr. Mason $1.50. Making fence at lower place. 

zgth. Sunday, children at meeting. Old snow in spots yet. 

30th. Ground covered with snow. The birds sing even in the storm. 

May I . Some difficulty in drawing the barn over the brook. Treat the 
people with cake and cheese. 

2d. Drew the barn at the lower place to the south part of the farm. 
[Barn is still standing there. — Ed.] Chaunccy D. Thomas had bushel of 
wheat at $1.50. 

3d. R. Abbott here. Fields begin to show green. 

4th. Have only two tons of hay. H. Corwin gives up his land, and I 
pay him back the ^12. 

6th. Sunday, Mrs. R. at meeting in wagon. 

8th. Frosty morning. Boys at sawmill. Women making soap. 

1 2th. Reuben Abbott's father is planting corn. Trees dry as in winter. 

13 th. Sunday, so cold in the meeting-house that I returned home. 

15 th. Washing seed wheat, sowed three acres of wheat. 

17 th. Blanchard not well, moves slow. Mary here to-day. 

19th. Been with Harriet Janet Sheals after cowslips. Mr. Emerson had 
seven pounds of pork. Had six quarts of seed corn of Mr. Leach. 

2 1st. Received of Ansel S. Smith J I 2. 89 for Asa Squire on his land. 

23 d. How green and beautiful the fields are ! Harmon has five barrels 
of plaster to use. 

25th. W. E. Collins here. Mr. Corwin takes two bushels of wheat. 

27th. Sunday, currants in blossom. Trees show signs of life. Some 
ice in dooryard yet. 



346 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

28th. Paid Mr. Montague ^10, my signment in foil for preaching. 

30th. W. E. Collins begins work at Jij a month. Mrs. R. at village. 

June I. No apple blows yet. Mrs. R. at Mary's. 

3d. Sunday, ice under the chips in the dooryard yet. Been to meeting, 
sacrament administered. 

5th. Emerson, Otis and Collins making wall. A few apple blossoms. 

7th. Great rain. Noah Post making beehives for Harmon. 

9th. Shearing sheep. Chauncey D. Thomas had three pounds butter. 

loth. Sunday, leaves of the ash and butternut not out yet. Other forest 
trees look finely. 

1 2th. C. S. Chittenden takes the Hobart oxen at $;o. Mr. Asahel 
Kent framing building. Training day. Martin Greene called. 

1 4th, Hoeing corn. Harmon after brick. Myself to work on the road. 

17th. Sunday, been to meeting. Mr. Everts preached. 

2 2d. At work on road these days. Hoeing corn, potatoes, etc. 

25th. Roofing new barn. Paid Mr. Hunt, a peddler, twenty-five cents 
in money and a deerskin, fifty cents. Darius Kent raised building. William 
Kent is sick. 

2 9th. Harmon gone to Pierrepont. Surveying for commissioner highways. 

July I . Old Mr. Chittenden and lady set out for Vermont. 

4th. Very warm. No work on the farm to-day. 

7th. Asahel raised his house. Harmon and Si\eals at the raising. 

8th. Sunday, been to meeting. Mr. Everts of Parishville preached. 

loth. Harmon off with new wagon. Mowed some in the orchard. 

13th. Sheals is sick. Haying these days. 

1 5 th. Sunday, been to meeting. Mr. Taylor preached. 

17th. Killed a calf. Chauncey D. Thomas had one quarter. Mother 
Post here. 

20th. Mrs. Abbott here. Harmon goes to Lee's mill for boards. 

27th. Mrs. R. at Ira Smith's. Haying these days. 

29th. Sunday, very warm, Mrs. R. sick. 

31st. Mr. Smith and his two sons and Mr. Green at work haying. 
Green works for fifty cents a day. 

August 8. Rider, Harmon and Sheals at work on the other place. 
Green set out with them, fell on his scythe and cut his knee very badly. 

12th. Sunday, been to meeting. Mr. Woodruff preached in the forenoon. 

14th. Cutting ten-acre meadow on lower place, formerly an old pasture. 
Drew five loads into the little barn. 

20th. Harmon and Sheals at military drill. Been to village. 

2 I St. Harmon and Sheals returned. Asahel and Mary here. 

2 2d. The boys seem to feel drilled out after the drill. Shall start in the 
morning on a visit to my relations in Ontario and Livingston counties. 

23 d. Left town this morning. Took the stage for Ogdensburg, at five 
o'clock went aboard steamboat "Oneida" for Rochester. 

24th. On the way touched at several ports. 

25th. Landed at Rochester early this morning. Took the stage for 
Geneseo, in Livingston County. Arrived there at five o'clock in the afternoon, 
being five miles west of my brother's in Livonia. Walked a part and rode a 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 347 

part of the way. Arrived there at sunsetting. My last visit there was twenty- 
nine years ago. 

z6th. Sunday, attended meeting with my father, brother and others of 
the family. My sister too unwell to attend. 

27th. Went with my father three miles to see brother and sister Reed. 
[His father's name was Oncsimus, and by "brother" he means George Pratt, 
who married his sister, Charlotte, and Hved at Livonia, N. Y. — Ed.T 

z8th. Went with my father and brother, George Pratt, to Springwater, 
fifteen miles distant, to see brother and sister Wiley and brother Pratt's son. 

zgth. Returned to brother Pratt's. 

30th. Spent the day with my father mostly visiting relations. 

31st. Went with my father to brother Reed's again. [Wheeler Reed, 
Esq., married Mr. Risdon's sister Olive, who died May 11, 1816 ; and for a 
second wife he married another sister, Hannah. — Ed.] 

September i. Returned from brother Reed's to brother Pratt's. 

2d. Sunday, attended meeting. Sacrament administered. 

3d. Set out for home. Rode with brother Pratt to Rochester, twenty- 
five miles. Viewed the city from noon till sunset. Went aboard of a canal- 
boat for Syracuse, one hundred miles distant. 

4th. On rriy way to Syracuse, warm, beautiful weather. 

5th. Arrived there at 4 p. m. Took another boat down the Oswego 
canal to Oswego village, forty miles. 

6th. Arrived at the village about noon. Took the steamboat " United 
States" for Ogdensburg at 6 p. m. 

7th. Arrived there about noon. Took a seat in a wagon with Mr. Himt 
and rode to Canton and put up for the night. 

8th. Arrived home at 2 p. m. All well. Expenses of the trip, $19. 
[This makes a trip of sixteen days at only an expense of ^19 for fare and ex- 
penses on the way. It would cost about that to do it now by rail. The stage 
of those days must have been run with great speed. He left home in the morn- 
ing and was on board the boat in Ogdensburg at 5 p. m. — Ed.] 

9th. Too tired to go to meeting. 

1 1 th. William Sheals, it appears, is at school at Potsdam Academy. 

13th. Been out with my gun. Old Mr. Fisk called for the night. 

17th. Surveyed for commissioner of highways near James Smith's. Har- 
mon takes wheat for me and himself to Parishville mill. 

I 8th. Husking corn. Sun eclipsed. Cloudy and dark at four p. M. 

20th. Going with Mr. Rascy and others to the pond [Ozonia] . 

2 1 St. Returned. Came by way of S. Abbott's hunting camp home alone. 

zzd. Sheals came from Potsdam last evening. 

Z3d. Sunday, great rain. Attended meeting, no preaching. 

25th. Surveyed land in Stockholm for Colonel Sanford, $z per day. 

27th. Making map for Colonel Sanford. Mrs. Phineas Durfey died at 
nine a. m. She, with her husband, was one of the first settlers of this town. 
She was a daughter of Samuel Brooks of Bristol, Vt., and aged about sixty. 

29th. Attended the funeral of Mrs. Durfey. A Universalist sermon 
preached. 

30th. Sunday, very pleasant. Attended meeting. 

October I. Colonel Sanford paid me §5 for surveying. 



348 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

2d. Paid T. H. Laughlin $ I on postage account. Wrote my people. 

4th. Surveyed for Curtis Sheldon. Digging potatoes. 

8th. Harmon ofF with Sheals to Potsdam. Bruce at work. 

1 2th. Leaves are falling. Dug potatoes myself. Have seven hundred 
and fifty bushels from two and one-half acres. 

14th. Sunday, light snow again. No one to meeting. 

17th. Gathering turnips. Asahel and Mary here. 

20th. Been out with my gun. Shot a deer, but did not get it. 
Wheelock raised a log house on Andrews's farm. 

2 1st. Sunday, children at meeting. Nature's beauty isTast dying away. 

22d. Been hunting. John Smith with me, killed nothing. 

25th. Mr. Smith and Harmon carried stove to hunting camp. 

26th. Been hunting, killed a deer. Our grandchild is sick. 

27th. Roburds and Wheelock been after my deer, they take the fore 
quarters. Mr. Smith has one quarter. Wounded a deer. 

29th. OfF hunting, Mr. Rasey with me. Spent three days, caught 
nothing. Left Mr. Rasey in the woods. Slept in my camp t\vo nights. Got 
back tired, hungry and discouraged. Hunting is poor business. 

November I. Asahel H. Chittenden takes a cow at $25. Stable cows. 

4th. Sunday. Fields hold their green remarkably for this time of year. 
Sheals from Potsdam. 

5th. First day of election. Calves are lousy, sheared one. 

6th. Been over to election, also to Asahel's. 

loth. Snow again. Mrs. R. quite sick. No work but chores these days. 

1 Ith. The Canadians have commenced war for then- independence again. 

12th. Killed a deer on my own farm. 

1 3th. Been to my hunting shanty, returned sick. 

1 6th. Returned from hunting. Lodged at shanty last night. 

17th. Asahel here, gave me his coat. Mrs. Risdon's health is poor, has 
a severe cough. I am afraid she is inclining to consumption. 

18th. Sunday, children walked to meeting. Mr. Montague will preach 
to us no more. We can't agree to hire him. 

19th. John Smith, a young man, son of Josiah Smith, our neighbor, has 
commenced work for one year at gio per month for six months and gl2 for the 
six summer months. I am to pay ^25 March I next and the remainder the first 
of March, i 840. Can hear guns in Canada. 

2 2d. Chopping four feet wood for the stove. I assisted some. 
25th. Sunday, the Methodists held a quarterly meeting at our house. 
28th. Thanksgiving Day. In cedar swamp getting out rails. 

30th. Asahel and Mary here. Drew eight loads of wood to the door. 
December I . Clarinda commences going to school at the village. 
2d. Sunday, children at meeting in the sleigh. 
5th. WiUiam and J. Sheals at school. Cutting wood at door, 
loth. Rogues have put Mr. Asahel Kent's sled over the stone wall. It 
seems to irritate him very much. 

I Ith. Caleb Wright's son and two daughters here this evening. 
13th. Have in woodhouse seventeen cords two and a half foot wood. 
i6th. Sunday, children to meeting in sleigh. 
1 8th. Been out with my gun. Cutting and drawing wood these days. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 349 

2zd. Have drawn twenty-seven loads of wood to Harmon's door and 
one to mine. 

23d. Sunday, stormy. Cattle in stable and well fed. Wood in the 
woodhouse and the family in good health, thank Providence. 

25th. My health is not good, have rheumatism. Dr. Parker called in. 

28th. At work in cedar swamp, cutting wood, etc. 

30th. Sunday, severe storm. Snow in great heaps. Clarinda here, will 
wash to-morrow. 

The Year J839 — J. S. Chipman, Agent for William Short, makes Mr. Risdon 
local Agent — Gid. Abbott calls, sits too easily in Chair — Erastus Reeve 
died May 20 — The young Women ride out in white' Dresses — Sends 
Money to Justui Smith of Potsdam — Mr. Reeve names his Babe after Mr. 
Risdon — Clarinda thrown from her Horse July 4 — Asahel H. Chittenden 
and three Others get capsized in Lake Ozonia — Peddler doesn't pay his Bill 
— Death of Henry Brush ^ — The President of United States passes — Seeking a 
Minister — Esther Post died September J4, Widow of Reuben — Death of 
Mrs. Eason Batchellor — Rev. Williams preached four Sabbaths, charged $32 
and left — Election held three Days — Caleb Wright takes his own Life 
November 14 — James Upham attempts Suicide. 

January 2. Killed four hogs. Chittenden takes one at $g per hundred. 

6th. Sunday, Mrs. R. and myself live alone. Clarinda lives at Asahel's 
and goes to school. 

9th. Reuben Abbott and sister here. Good winter weather. 

I Ith. William Sheals teaches school near Isaac Snell's. Piled some wood 
near Mr. Roburds's cut by Mr. Wheelock last winter. 

13th. Sunday, no preaching this winter. Isaac Snell's youngest child died. 

I 5th. John and myself splitting rails. Been to funeral. Paid to Bible 
Society ^i. Hear that a young man in Moira killed his father with an axe. 

21st. Paid Philo Abbott, Mr. Lenox's tax, g 1 0.77, and my own tax. 

2 3d. Thrashing these days. Mother and Aunt Lucy here. 

24th. Reuben H. Webb from Malone. Young people have a sleigh ride. 

28th. Peddler had deerskin, fifty cents ; got an almanac, six cents ; 
combs, four cents ; soap, eight cents ; tin pail, thirty-two cents. 

31st. Sleighs run well on icy roads. Harmon and Mary at Asahel's. 

February I . A difficulty in deal between A. Rasey and H. Corwin waj 
settled by Judge Sanford and myself this evening. Our feejl each. Mr. 
Corwin is to pay me ^i by arrangement. 

4th. Paid Caleb Wright $ I o and took up my note. 

5th. J. S. Chipman here from Waddington. He verbally gives me the 
care of William Short's lands in Hopkinton, the same power I possessed when 
under Judge Fine, a former agent of Mr. Short. 

7th. Mother Post here. Thrashing wheat these days. Nichols Webb 
here. Shot a skunk in the woodhouse. 

I Ith. Sold my gray colt to Nichols Webb, took his note for g6o, pay- 
able March I, 1840. Clarinda here. [Reuben and Nichols Webb were 
brothers of Mrs. Isaac Perkins of Parishville and cousins of Mrs. Harmon Ris- 
don. — Ed.] 

12th. Have drawn twenty-six loads of wood and about twelve hundred 
rails. Drew the timber two and one-quarter miles. 



3 50 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

14th. Lent Nathaniel Baldwin ^10. Drawing wood near Mr. Roberts's. 

1 6th. Received budget of contracts from J. S. Chipman. W. Green, 
his mother and brothers here to-day. Mr. Green will get well of his lameness, 
except perhaps a stiff knee. 

20th. James Lytle has refusal of lot number eight, east of Mr. Fletcher's. 

24th. Sunday, children at meeting in wagon. 

25th. Aurelius Remington has lost his babe two weeks old. Cutting 
wood and saw logs. People calling for land these days. 

March 3. Sunday, Clarinda at home. Children go to Methodist. 

4th. Clarinda washing. Finished thrashing wheat. 

5th. Town meeting day. Paid Josiah Smith ^25 on account of his son 
John's work. Jehial Austin pays ^65 on the L N. Hobart contract. Jesse 
Moon will take the farm he lives on at ^300. 

8th. It is said sap runs. Harmon at the sugar place. 

12 th. My lameness from rheumatism continues. Jesse Moon has taken 
Benjamin Sanford's contract and will not take the place he lives on. 

19th. Harmon and W. Sheals gone to Potsdam. Harmon takes ^450 to 
Justus Smith, to whom Mr. Chipman directs me to pay it. 

2 2d. William Sheals has gone to Vermont, remaining this summer. 

23d. Harmon surveying in Lawrence. Tapping the sugar works. 

27th. Boiling sap. Harmon broke flax. Clarinda at writing school. 

30th. Esq. Reeve has the rheumatism. Three inches of snow fell. 
March has been a cold month. 

April I . Warmest day since last October. Been out in the fields to-day. 

3d. I attended the sugar making. Robins to be seen. 

4th. Deacon Warner called ; wants a meeting-house built. 

5 th. Attended school meeting, voted for a library. Sheals returned from 
Vermont. 

7th. Sunday, the snow is mostly off in the fields. People up the Turn- 
pike getting in grain. 

9th. William Sheals has worked for J. Sanford this season. 

1 2th. Harmon assisting Asahel draw away his old house. Noah Post's 
wife is sick. Mary and Clarinda gone there. 

14th. Sunday, Mrs. Post is better, children at meeting. 
19th. Attended library meeting, elected librarian. Very poor sugar season. 
20th. Went up to my hunting camp and took care of stove. Exhibition 
at the village. Esq. Reeve is no better. 

2 2d. Sealed measure for J. Sanford. A fire at Ogdensburg lately. John 
Connor pays on land contract. 

25th. Dyer L. Merrill pays twenty-five dollars on land. Take a calf 
and deerskin to Mr. Durrell for tanning. 

28th. Sunday, Al. Covey here. Fields looking green. 

30th. Boys filling an ash leach. Sold my white cow to D. L. Merrill 
for $lS ; $1 cash and $iy hy note. 

May I . Women making soap. Been over to Sabbath School Conven- 
tion. Samuel Abbott's two daughters here. 

3d. Heavy rain in the night. The women are cleaning their houses. 
The boys assist, scrubbing and whitewashing. 

4th. Harmon at the village as inspector of schools. Clarinda at Asahel's. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 351 

6th. Gid. Abbott here, sits too easy to suit me. A healthy young man 
should sit restless in a chair at this busy time of year. 

7th. Harmon, Smith, Ainsworth logging. Paid $2.50 for hbrary. 

9th. Clarinda and Janet returned from Samuel Abbott's. 

loth. Mother returns to Reuben Post's; been with us about three months. 

I 2th. Sunday, been to meeting, also Mrs. R. Sent to Justus Smith by 
C. Johnson ;g 1 29. 50. 

1 4th. Young cattle out to grass. Currants in blow. Trees show life. 

I 5th. Planting corn at other place. Esq. Reeve is failing. Paid $6 for 
insuring my buildings. 

1 8th. People are burning log heaps. Harmon and Clarinda at village. 

20th. Smith at Mr. Remington's guarding fire. Esq. Reeve died to-day. 

22d. At the funeral Erastus Reeve, sermon by Elder Green, Sr. 

26th. Sunday, pleasant, been to meeting ; no preaching. 

29th. Planting potatoes. Washed the sheep this cold day. 

30th. The young women rode out in their white dresses, resemble the 
apple trees in blow. 

June I. Survey for M. H. Covey and also for J. H. Covey ; fee, $2. 

4th. Smith and Corwin shearing sheep. Hear Ezekiel Blair died sud- 
denly on Sunday last. 

7th. Wrote four contracts for Gilbert H. Covey. J. Sanford pays J 1 00. 

loth. Mr. Kent set out for Vermont. Sowing oats. 

I 1th. Mother Post is unwell. Mrs. R. there. Corn does not grow. 

1 2th. Severe frost. Been up the Turnpike surveying for Mr. Connor. 
The frost damaged beans, vines and corn in places. 

13th. H. Smith's wife is buried to-day. Dyer L. Merrill pays his note. 

1 6th. Mother Post is no better, her complexion is yellow. 

1 8th. Paid Russell Witherell, commissioner, ^10 I was owing the town. 

19th. People wearing cloaks and coats. W. Baldwin pays ;gIo on land. 

2 1 St. Surveyed for Mr. Culver. Mother Post no better. 

23d. Sunday, Mrs. R. with mother. Very raw weather. We have 
not had a warm day since September last. 

24th. Sent J141.50 to Justus Smith of Potsdam by Josiah Smith. 

28th. Boys girdling. Wrote contract for Benjamin Reeve. 

July 2. Boys hoeing. Connor, Frasier and Asahel here. 

4th. Champin Reeve and his wife here, brought their babe, a son of 
eleven months, as fine a boy as I ever saw. His name is Elisha Risdon, after 
myself [This son now resides at Albia, la. — Ed.] 

5 th. Sarah in the ride yesterday fell from the carriage ; is some hurt. 
Clarinda also fell from a horse in the morning of the same day. The Fourth 
will be a day long remembered for accidents in the family. Asahel Chittenden 
with three others went to small lake about six miles distant for fishing and other 
diversion. It appears from what I learn (have not seen Asahel) that while out 
on the lake one-quarter of a mile or more their craft, a small canoe, sunk. By 
the assistance of Divine Providence they were all successful in saving themselves. 

[Mr. Norton F. Thomas of this village was then Uving across the road 
from the Post homestead. As it happened he saw the accident to Clarinda. 
Her horse stumbled and she was thrown forward over the horse's head and to 
the ground, but fortunately was not hurt, save her pride. Mr. Thomas ran to 



352 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

her, but she was up before him. He assisted her to mount, when she joined 
the party, though a little humiliated. — Ed.] 

7th. Sunday, been to meeting. I have seen Asahe! to-day. Speaking 
of their providential escape from drowning, he observed that after the canoe had 
sunk and the four of them were thrown into the water, that by exertion and pru- 
dence they clung to the canoe and forced it ashore. 

8th. Mr. Upham was here last night. He was one of the four who were 
immersed in the lake. Asahel Chittenden, as I have observed, a nephew of his, 
and Hiram Sheldon were the others. It appears by their account almost a mir- 
acle that all were saved. They had with them two good rifles and exercised 
prudence in regarding them as valueless in comparison to saving themselves. Mr. 
Upham thinks, however, that the rifles may be hooked up. Asahel and Mary 
here to-day. Received a budget of deeds and contracts from Mr. Chipman, 
have myself a contract for one hundred and fifty acres. 

[The small lake he mentions is Lake Ozonia, seven and one-half miles south 
of Hopkinton village. It was at first called the Big Pond and afterwards and 
until recent years Trout Lake. A few years ago Mr. Frederic M. Heath gave 
it the name of Lake Ozonia, by which it is now known. It is a charming body 
of water, three miles in length, from a quarter to a half mile in width, with shores 
exceedingly free from dead and fallen timber, and with a perfect panoply of ver- 
dant forest sloping down the hillsides all around and coming to the water's 
edge. It is no wonder that the hunters and others went there in early days, and 
I only wonder that more do not go now. Mr. Heath has a fine hotel on a bluff 
on the northerly end of the lake, and there are several cottages hidden by the 
timber along the shore. There is now a good highway to the lake from Hop- 
kinton and also to the station at St. Regis Falls, some six miles distant. The 
hotel is supplied with water as fine and pure as can be found in the Adirondacks, 
taken from a spring high up the hillside over across the lake by means of pipe 
lying on the bottom of the lake. It will be noticed that Mr. Risdon attributes 
the rescue of the party from drowning very largely to Providence, giving Mr. 
Upham no credit. Mr. J. Henry Henderson, King S. Chittenden, Esq., and 
several others who had the story from members of the party, tell me that it was 
universally conceded at the time that their rescue was due to the coolness, courage 
and swimming ability of Mr. Jas. Upham, who generalled the party and finally 
got them all to shore. The party consisted of Asahel Chittenden, his nephew. 
Nelson C. Crouch, Hiram B. Sheldon, son of Oliver, and James Upham. Mr. 
J. Converse, whose father hunted there and knew all about the mishap, tells me 
that the upsetting of the boat took place a quarter of a mile or so down the lake 
from the hotel, and that Mr. Upham landed the party at some point along where 
the cottages are to the left or easterly of the hotel. The rifles lost at the time 
were never recovered. Pretty soon the diary will tell of this same Mr. Upham 
attempting to take his own life. It would seem that one so brave and capable in 
such a trying moment might fight life's battles with greater fortitude, but, I sup- 
pose, there is no staying the promptings of a disordered mind. He was a very 
poor man and lived just north of the village. Wishing to go west, his friends 
made him up a sufficient purse and he went many years ago. The picture of 
the lake was taken by Charles H. Brush. — Ed.] 

I ith. Boys in the girdling. Reuben Abbott here peddling, paid him ten 
cents for one-half quire of paper. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 353 

13 th. I think of the providential escape of the young men every hour ot 
the day. Their loss would have caused a mourning Hopkinton. 

14th. Sunday, corn about ten inches high. Grass very light. 

15th. Gilbert H. Covey and wife here. Alzina left us this morning. 

1 6th. Mrs. R. and Harmon gone to Norfolk. Surveying for Lytle. 

19th. Surveyed a road for the commissioner of highways from Richard- 
son's three miles south, then west to the Goss farm in Catharineville. 

zzd. Mother Post is no better. Corn looks much more promising. 

z4th. Finished the road to the Goss farm, nearly four miles, commencing 
at Richardson's on the Turnpike. 

27th. Boys haying. Been on to my new farm. Mr. Dutcher has 
slashed about five acres. 

3 1 St. The peddler left this morning, he neglected to pay his bill for 
horse keeping from Saturday night to Tuesday morning, seventy-five cents. I 
believe his name is George Moore. 

August 2. Haying. I labor some. Mr. Smith works in place of son John. 

4th. Sunday, twenty -eight years since my wedding day. 

6th. Haying. Mrs. Brooks and Miss Blodgett called. 

7th. Asahcl here. Eliphalet Brush's son is sick. 

9th. Surveyed for Jonah Sanford on the river. 

iith. Sunday, family attended Elder Austin's meeting at the west 
schoolhouse. Reuben Abbott, sister and Al. Covey here. 

13th. The boys pulling flax. Sealed a measure for A. Phelps. Henry 
Brush, son of Eliphalet, a young man of about fifteen years, is buried to-day. 
He died after only a week's sickness. 

I 5th. All hands haying. Get nineteen loads fi^om twenty-four acres, 
about one-quarter less than last year. 

17th. All hands haying at the other place. 

20th. Elder Austin and lady here, also our little granddaughter. 

24th. The President of the United States passes here. Sold Dyer L. 
Merrill some land. 

25th. Sunday, Mother Post fails slowly. 

26th. Harmon has left his haying and harvesting and set out with his 
wife and child on a visit to her relations in Vermont. J. Smith and Ainsworth 
at the military drill in Potsdam. 

27th. William Sheals and Reuben Abbott here. Smith returns. 

28th. J. Smith warning men to training. Dutcher has finished five acres 
of his job of slashing. Two acres of wheat and ten of grass to cut and no 
work done for three days past. 

2gth. Mrs. R. at mother's. Mary Chittenden also. Frost this morning. 

3 1st. Haying at other place. Had frost three nights in succession. Corn 
was not damaged much. A few have finished haying. 

September 2. Boys all off to training. Sarah is sick. 

4th. Sarah has the doctor. Mother continues to fail. 

6th. The men hardly earn their board; no one to lead them. 

8th. Sunday, had preaching. Dr. Witherell called to see Sarah. 

loth. J. Smith gone to mill. Sarah and John Sheals are better. John- 
son at work with Ainsworth and Smith. 

I 2th. Finished haying. Harmon, wife and child returned, all well. 



354 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

13th. Mother Post in all probability will not live many days. Mrs. R. 
there. Attended a church meeting to devise some way to procure a minister. 

14th. Mother Post is dead, died this morning at about one o'clock, aged 
seventy-nine years. Has been a resident of this town over thirty-four years, a 
member of the Congregational Church as long. 

15th. Sunday, attended fiineral of Mother Post. Mr. Williams preached. 

I 7th. Boys cutting corn and reaping oats. Hear Mrs. Eason Batchellor 
is dead, been sick eight or nine years. She is a daughter of Samuel Eastman. 

I 8th. Attended funeral of Mrs. Batchellor. Smith at work at Brown's. 

20th. Roburds and Ainsworth have cut my corn. 

2 1 St. Boys all at training at Potsdam. Sent J25.39 by Harmon to 
Justus Smith. James Smith's brother come from England. W. Warriner here. 

22d. Sunday, Mr. Williams preaches. The object is to hire him, pro- 
vided he suits the people. 

25th. Husking corn. Surveyed for Ainsworth, Wheelock and Roburds. 

26th. Harmon at Roburds's with team building milldam. 

27th. Been with J. Sanford surveying. Snows hard. 

29th. Sunday, three inches of snow fell. Forest trees and vegetation as 
green as in summer. Mary Chittenden has another daughter. 

October i. Mrs. R. at Asahel's. Our young granddaughter is sick. 
Mr. Leach has been ailing for a year. It is feared he has consumption. 

2d. J. Sanford here, did some business for him. 

4th. Husking corn. Our school district library has arrived. Josiah 
Smith brought it from Ogdensburg. 

6th. Sunday, Asahel here, brings me a thermometer at ^^1.75. 

8th. Surveyed for J. Dewey. M. Crossman and lady here. 

loth. Been to Samuel Abbott's. Mrs. R. paid g2. 50 in cloth for glasses. 

I 2th. Digging potatoes. Reuben Abbott here. J. E. Lytle pays $29. 

15th. Harmon gone to Potsdam. Boys raising Peck's sawmill. 

1 6th. Mr. Williams preached four Sabbaths, charged $32. Received 
his pay and has left us. 

I 8th. Mary and her two children here. Paid John Sheldon, collector 
for Mr. Williams, my tax $2 for four Sabbaths' preaching. Austin Kent and 
his lady at his father's. 

20th. Sunday, Austin Kent preaches. Vegetation dying away. 

2 1 St. Get seventy bushels of corn to the acre. Have gathered one 
thousand bushels of potatoes. 

Z4th. Sold Chauncey Thomas fourteen bushels of potatoes. Been up in 
south woods with C. S. Chittenden. 

26th. Gathered five hundred bushels of turnips. Rufus Greene pays fifty- 
two cents library tax. 

31st. Sheals has been here for some time and is sick. 

November i . Light snow. Harmon gone to Parishville mill. 

4th. John and myself assisted Mr. Wallis raise a shanty. 

6th. Third day of election. Three inches of snow. Sealed two meas- 
ures for Mr. Daggett. 

8th. Commenced doing off small room in the woodhouse. Surveyed a 
private road for R. Brown. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 355 

9th, Set out hunting, but soon returned. The bushes loaded with snow. 

1 ith. People using sleighs. Clarinda had twenty-five cents. 

14th. Caleb Wright died suddenly by his own act. Harmon has let 
two cows and two sheep to S. C. Remington to double in four years. 

17th. Harmon and his wife at Caleb Wright's. I attended the funeral 
of Mr. Wright. Elder Joel Green preached the sermon to a crowded audience. 
Heard a woman in Canton had hung herself. 

19th. Hear that Mr. James Upham attempted to hang himself last even- 
ing. He is still ahve but very feeble. Two hours' rubbing brought him to hfe. 
The attempt was made in a clump of alders near where he Uved, using a hand- 
kerchief for a cord. His life was saved with much difficulty. 

2 I St. Had of Julius Peck one hundred feet of pine plank and fifty of clap- 
boards, $1.75. 

zzd. Mr. Palmer of New York wishes some information of me as to the 
Wallace tract which he owns. Paid Jane Green seventy-five cents for sewing. 
Have a fulled cloth cloak, cost §10 ; pair of pantaloons, ^2.50. 

24th. Sunday, Mrs. R. quite unwell these days. Hear a young man in 
Potsdam, Coolidge by name, has committed suicide by cutting his throat and 
hanging himself. 

26th. Wrote Mr. Palmer the owner of the Wallace tract. Sarah quite 
unwell this fall. Ira Bicknell here. 

28th. Thanksgiving Day. Been to meeting. Asahel and Mary here. 
John Smith has worked his year. 

30th. There is difficulty in Benjamin Sanford's family. His wife has 
left him. It is thought generally, however, that Mr. Sanford is most to blame. 
He has complained of feeble health for five years. 

December i. Sunday, the Methodists occupy the meeting-house to-day, 
a quarterly meeting. 

4th. Gave Asahel S3 to buy me some stovepipe. Paid R. Post twenty- 
five cents for a box of pills for Mrs. R. 

6th. Sarah at Dr. Witherell's. Cut a stone for a stovepipe. Harmon 
inspecting school-teachers. 

8th. Sunday, children at meeting in wagon. No preaching. 

loth. Put up a stone for stovepipe and built a short chimney. 

14th. Clarinda gone home with Asahel. Sleighing again. 

17th. John Sheals at school. Ausdn Kent lectures this evening in the 
village. 

1 8th. Lucretia Rasey married this evening, young people at the wedding. 

20th. The sun has not been seen for a week. 

24th. Harmon killed thirteen hogs and pigs. James Upham assisted him. 

26th. Been over to the village, witness in court. 

27th. Asahel here with Marion. Mr. Webb left for home. 

31st. Severe storm last few days. The papers state that on December 
I 5 and 1 6 there was a severe storm on the New England coast with loss of much 
property and life. Stormy times in the House of Representatives. 



356 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

The Year 1840 — Money scarce — Farm Produce very low — Death of Mr. Leach 
and Joseph Seeley — Dr. Witherell attends his Family — Pigeons plenty — Boys 
at Artillery Drill — Art. Kent shoots at his Geese — Death of Lewis Putnam — 
Two Elephants in Town — Asahel Chittenden building Log House on Peck 
Road — Rev. Bachellor, the Minister — The Whigs w^in Election — Hears 
Guns roar to the West — Death of Mrs. Oliver Sheldon — Rev. Jeremiah Bur- 
chard causes great Religious Excitement — Sketch of him and his Preaching 
— Pathetic Parting with the Year. 

January i . Thermometer eighteen below zero in morning and twelve in 
the evening. 

2d. Signed for parsonage house, gzo ; and Harmon, ^15. 

4th. Sunday, Mr. Leach is in no great pain but failing slowly. 

7th. J. Smith, William Sheals, William Kent and sisters start for Vermont. 

loth. Mr. Rasey has made me a pair of moccasins. Dr. Witherell will 
get some wood from my lot. 

14th. Sealed a measure for John Sheldon and one for Hiram Sheldon. 

I 5th. Mr. Weed and lady here from Vermont, also Miss Laughlin. 

23d. Paid Mr. Hyde for dressing cloth. Severe winter so far, deep snow. 

24th. Tedious day. Snow deep, being blown in enormous piles. Har- 
mon has Judge Sanford's machine thrashing wheat. 

25 th. Money is very scarce. Cattle and all produce of farms are low. 
Wheat only a dollar and corn fifty cents in money. 

28th, Sheals, Kent and their sisters came from Vermont. 

30th. Sealed a measure for W. Dewey. A powerful wind in night. 

February 3. Mr. Leach died last evening. Mary making graveclothes. 

4th. Harmon, Mary and Clarinda at Mr. Leach's ; he will be buried at 
Parishville. He bore up with great patience and died in a lively hope of a 
blessed immortality. 

6th. J. Smith and sisters returned from Vermont. David Leach pays 
me a J20 bill on the St. Albans bank. If not current, to be returned to him. 

9th. Sunday, mild. Children at meeting. 

loth. Paid Philo Abbott my taxes, also Mr. Short's and Mr. Lenox's. 

Ilth. Our minister called, also J. P. Roburds and lady. John Smith 
begins work for Harmon. 

14th. Mrs. R. quite unwell. No market for grain, beef or pork. 

17th. Fields bare in spots. Thrashing wheat these days. 

1 8th. Town meeting day. Joseph Seeley, a young man of twenty-four, 
born in Hopkinton, dies suddenly. 

zoth. The stage is on wheels. Harmon and Mary at funeral. 

24th. Old Mr. Merritt strayed away. 

25th. Our little granddaughter, Charlotte, is quite sick ; Dr. Witherell 
here and very attentive. 

29th. Harmon visiting schools. Thrashing and drawing wood. 

March I . Sunday, Nichols Webb and the girls at meeting. 

2d. William Sheals at work for me at gl I per month. 

9th. Wheelock, Ainsworth and Roburds making sugar on my land. A 
few have tapped, but little sap. 

I 6th. Sheals at work for Mrs. Sanford, fixing a room for her in J. Peck's 
woodhouse. 

18th. Tapping sugar works. Dyer L. Merrill pays me for map. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 357 

20th. Mrs. Benjamin Sanford here. Paid Goodnow for shoemaking. 

23d. Mrs. Sanford gone into Julius Pecii's house. Surveyed for Baldwin. 

26th. Boys at flax these days. Made map for J. Palmer of New York. 

30th. Boys sugaring. The robins have come. 

April 4.. Sold James Blanchard seventy-five acres and he paid for it. 

7th. Blanchard recants and wants his money back. I gave it to him. 

8 th. He decided to take it and pays me again. 

17th. Surveying for Jonah Sanford these days. People on dry land sow- 
ing grain. Sent J48 by J. Sanford to Justus Smith, Potsdam. 

23d. Mrs. R. quite sick. Fields show a beautiful green. Ploughing. 

27th. Have six inches of snow. Jesse Moon is unfortunate, lost two 
cows and a heifer, all he had. , 

28th. Surveying the true line of Turnpike and crossroad from J. Sanford's. 

29th. Asahel sets out to-day for New York. Sent papers to Mr. Lenox. 

May 3. My cows lay out last night for the first time. Making soap. 

5th. Snowed all day. Bad for farmers without hay. Many pigeons. 

8th. Have been confined to the house for four days. Plenty of pigeons. 

13th. Surveying for Pickert and Laughlin. Cows live without hay. 

17th. Sunday, been to meeting. Pigeons very plenty. 

20th. Girls cleaning house. Shooting squirrels. Cherrv trees in blow. 

23d. Mrs. R. returned from Asahel's. Al. Covey and S. Abbott's 
daughter here. 

25th. Dr. Sprague has trouble. Planting corn and sowing wheat. 

28th. Wash sheep. Much smoke from burning these days. Lucy Ann 
is mistress to-day. 

June I . Paid Asahel Rasey seven dollars for a rifle which he can refund 
and take the gun, or, if he does not, I am to pay him three dollars more. 

2d. Frost last night. Three peddlers put up for the night. 

5th. Boys all pigeon hunting. Finished planting potatoes. 

loth. Harmon and Sheals at Canton. Mrs. R. picking wool. 

14th. Sunday, Mr. Taylor preached. 

I 8th. Surveying for Mr. Palmer. Mrs. R. spinning wool. 

21st. Sunday, Methodest camp meeting in Stockholm. 

25th. John Smith raised log house in south woods. Been to Trout Lake. 

27th. Boys all at artillery training in the village. 

30th. Surveying for Mr. Palmer, Wallis and young Kennedy with me. 
Lay in the woods over night. 

July 1 . Mary and her two children and Mrs. Crouch here. 

4th. Harmon, young Wallis and E. Hayden with me surveying on lots 
31, 32 and 33 over the river. Stayed over night with Mr. Hayden. Viewed 
Flat Rock falls on Lenox tract. Heard all the big guns within twenty miles. 

8th. Surveyed a road leaving the Turnpike near John Sheldon's and run- 
ning south nearly four miles. 

loth. Surveyed for Judge Sanford near Asa Squire's. 

iith. Surveyed a line for a road south of E. Roburds's sawmill. 
This road is not finished. 

1 2th. Mrs. R. at meeting. A new minister. Mr. Leonard has left. 

I 5th. Run a line for a road on the Short and Palmer tracts. 

16th. At work on road near Hopkins's mill. Ther. 92 degrees in shade. 



358 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

2 2d. People all engaged with haying. Mr. Bachellor, the minister, called. 

Z5th. Bought a Bible, §4.50. All hands haying. 

26th. Sunday, been to meeting. Mr. Bachellor preached. 

28th. R. Post, Winnie, Wallis and Ainsworth assisting our boys haying. 

August 4. Clarinda at Asahel's. Paid §3 on Bible. 

8th. Harmon has driven a large flock of sheep into the lot. 

14th. Asahel, Mary and Miss Hulburt here. 

20th. Cradling wheat. Shooting squirrels. Mrs. Newman here. 

24th. Harmon at military drill. Ainsworth and brother cradling. 

26th. Our geese got into Art. Kent's fields. He shot at them four 
times, killed one. 

30th. Lewis Putnam, son of Seth, died last night after a short sickness. 
He was a fine young man, aged twenty-five years. His loss is deeply lamented. 

September 3. Surveyed for Mr. Ainsworth on Palmer tract. 

6th. Sunday, Asahel's eye giving him some trouble. 

9th. Raised hogpen. Noah Post made bookcases. Harmon at training 
at Potsdam. 

loth. Run a line to the lake for a road. Mrs. R. is at Mrs. Putnam's, 
she is very sick. [This must be Lake Ozonia. — Ed.] 

I 2th. Frost this morning. Harmon, P. Durfey, S. Abbott and others 
returned from the lake where they went hunting, killed three deer. 

15th. John Sheldon cutting corn. Severe thunderstorm. 

2zd. Exhibition of two elephants and other foreign animals at the village. 

26th. Surveyed for Stephen Reeve. Husking these days. Our minister 
gone to Vermont. Mrs. Manley with the girls gone to Norfolk. 

October 3. Mrs. Julius Peck and children sick. Digging potatoes. 

9th. Made a map for Mr. Palmer of his lands. 

I 2th. An old bear paid us a visit. Husking corn. 

14th. Harmon tearing down and building better. Asahel Chittenden 
building a log house on the Peck road on lands that I shall deed to him. 

17th. Had three bunches of shingles of J. P. Roburds. Harmon doing 
much fixing on old house. 

I 8th. At meeting. Mr. Bachellor preached. Has moved his family here. 

20th. Surveyed a road at Trout Lake. Political meetings are held often. 

25th. Mrs. R. returns from Asahel's where she has been several days. 

31st. Doing much work on buildings these days. Attended funeral of 
Julius Peck's child, aged two years. 

November i . Sunday, attended meeting, sacrament administered. 

2d. First day of election. Had of Mr. Foster six lengths and two 
elbows of pipe, g 2. 8 714. 

4th. Attended election. Worked on house for Mrs. Benjamin Sanford, 
also Harmon with team. 

7th. Harmon drawing boards to Mr. Wheelock's house in south woods 
for Mrs. Sanford. Deeded one hundred and sixty acres to Asahel. He is to 
pay me $100, the residue is dower to my daughter Mary. Whigs are wearing 
smiling faces. The big guns are roaring loud in the west. 

9th. Harmon is setting up a new stove. The Whigs will no doubt 
carry this state and the United States. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 



359 



1 6th. Old Mrs. Mosher, formerly the wife of Ohver Sheldon, died very 
suddenly to-day. Surveying for J. Sanford, Esq. Harmon at work on minis- 
ter's barn. 

1 8th. Mrs. Mosher buried. Mrs. R. has the phthisic badly. 

2 1 St. At work on road in south woods, J. Smith with me. 

Z4th. Burchard is preaching in Stockholm. Paid Jane Greene eighteen 
cents for cutting pantaloons. 

zgth. Harmon and girls at Mr. Burchard' s protracted meeting in Stock- 
holm. 

[This refers to Rev. Jedediah Burchard, an evangelist of considerable 
repute. He was, according to all accounts, an enthusiastic and eloquent preacher, 
or at least had the power to exercise much control over his audiences. He 
caused a great deal of excitement and religious fervor among the people wher- 
ever he went. However, he thought he had to have and did have the choicest 
meats to support him in his arduous labors. I well remember my mother, 
Clarinda Sanford, telling me that people killed sheep to give him fresh mutton 
and beeves to get him sirloin steaks. J. Wilson Culver, Esq., of West Stock- 
holm, tells me that he would get so animated and excited that he would walk 
about among the people in the audience on the top of the backs of the square 
box pews, loudly and eloquently exhorting them to give up their wicked ways 
and thus save themselves from eternal hell fire. 

The Rev. Gideon S. Abbott, in his autobiography, speaks of Rev. Burchard 
and of attending his great revival meetings in Stockholm. He states that he 
was very eccentric and dramatic in manner and exceedingly radical and dog- 
matic in his views and teachings. On one occasion when he was present a very 
tall young man, an acquaintance of his, arose quietly in the gallery to go out. 
Rev. Burchard, noticing him, stopped in his discourse and loudly called to him, 
" Sit down there, you great stack pole of hell." Of course all eyes were turned 
upon him, which so discomfited him that he did sit down and very suddenly. 

There was a Miss Johnson, a quite talented young lady, whom he had 
made especial efforts to convert, but without effect. Meeting her in the street 
one day he greeted her in this very kindly and Christian spirit, " Good morning, 
daughter of the devil." She, nothing daunted, quickly retorted, " Good morn- 
ing, father." 

On another occasion he asked a man by the name of Miller, sitting in the 
audience with his children, this : " Mr. Miller, have you got religion.? " The 
latter replied, •' Not to brag of." " Do you belong to any church.? " Mr. 
Miller answered that he was a Universalist in belief, to which Rev. Burchard 
retorted in a loud voice, ■■ You are going to hell." At this Mr. Miller, ap- 
parently not in the least disconcerted or alarmed, asked him not to tell his 
father, for he would feel like death about it. 

In those first forty years or so in the history of the town, and of all the towns 
for that matter, evangelists, exhorters and travelling ministers were coming and 
going all the time, holding meetings in the various schoolhouses, groves, churches, 
and getting a charge when they could and for as long as they could. Mrs. Mary 
M. Dow of Parishville, daughter of Isaac Snell, gives another instance of the 
radical views of Mr. Burchard, which she often heard her father relate when she 
was quite young. He (Mr. Burchard), in one of his sermons heard by her 
father, stated that in his travels he at one time visited a great seething, roaring 



360 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

blast furnace, melting ore to a white heat liquid, that hell was so much hotter 
than that fiirnace that should one of its victims jump from the former into the 
latter he would freeze to death in five minutes. 

At another time the Rev. Bachellor was preaching in the log schoolhouse 
near her father's home. He had thundered away for a full hour upon hell and 
the devil when a tired auditor cried out, " Brother Bachellor, let us hear some- 
thing about Jesus Christ." The minister, greatly discomfited at this interrup- 
tion, turned and looking at the unruly member in amazement, asked, " Was 
that you. Brother Durrell, that spoke?" He replied, "Yes, we have heard 
enough about the devU ; tell us something about Christ." At this the Rev. 
Bachellor stated that he was amazed and greatly disconcerted at the interrup- 
tion and that he would close the meeting. Prior to the coming of Rev. Bur- 
chard the Clara brothers, who were itinerant evangelists of the Presbyterian faith, 
held revival meetings in town, as did others. In some towns the only preaching 
the settlers had for the first years was by travelling preachers. 

The theology taught in those early days, as all we learn goes to show, was 
of a pretty severe, vigorous and radical kind. It was no doubt best, since we are 
taught that the peoples of all countries the world over hold to those doctrines 
which seem best suited to their needs, condition and environments, and which, 
following the great law of development among live races and people, mark at all 
times the position to which they have attained. The Rev. Jedediah Burchard 
died at Adams, Jefferson County, September 2;, 1864. — Ed.] 

December 2. John Sheals and Mary Wallis at school. Sarah gone to 
Parishville. 

6th. Children at protracted meeting in Stockholm. 

loth. Harmon and Clarinda painting my room. 

I 2th. Surveyed forjudge Sanford near Mr. Austin's. Mary gone home. 

14th. Paid A. Jenny for bedstead in fulled cloth. Clarinda grinding paints. 

1 6th. Harmon at Eastville mill with corn. Clarinda painting house. 

17th. Thanksgiving Day. Good sleighing on ice. 

19th. Sunday, protracted meeting in Stockholm continues. 

24th. Surveyed for Darius E. Kent. Winter in earnest. 

29th. Harmon killed hogs. Nelson C. Crouch pays me for stovepipe. 

31st. Mrs. Julius Peck is sick, feared she has consumption. Thus ends 
the year 1 840, with all our yesterdays numbered with the years beyond the 
flood. So numbered are all the days, months and years of our childhood and 
youth. How fondly age dwells through the mists of time on their remem- 
brance ! Although alternately transported and alarmed, filled with joys and 
griefs, hopes and fears, for such was the condition of our birth, age, pensively, 
though pleasingly, dwells upon the recollection of the sunny days of childhood 
and youth. I am now nearly sixty. 

The Year J 84 1. — Revs. Burchard and Bachellor get considerable Meat — Borchard's 
Meetings close — Death of Alonzo Seeley — Snow Four Feet deep — Death of 
Hannah Corwin — Settle Estate of Esther Post — Loses a $3 Bill " not Current " 
— Boys training — Marriage of Permelia Sanford and Erasmus D. Brooks — 
Rev. Weeks at Parishville. 

January I. Girls gone sleigh riding. Mrs. R.'s health not good. 
2d. Girls return at three this morning. Very severe winter. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 361 

5th. Burchard begins preaching at the village, good attendance. 

15th. Thrashing these days. Mrs. R. and myself now comfortably 
lodged in our little room. 

16th. Been with J. Smith to get Mrs. Sanford's firewood. Mrs. Peck 
no better. 

1 8th. Mary Wallis is sick. Poor girl has a fever. 

20th. Ros. Pettibone called. Thrashing machine here. 

2zd. Mr. Burchard called, had twelve pounds beef. Rev. Mr. Bachel- 
lor one hundred and thirty pounds. 

24th. Sunday, children at meeting, Mr. Burchard preached. 

27th. Mrs. Sanford had eleven loads of wood. I fear Asahel will lose 
his eye. 

29th. J. Austin with us last night. 

31st. Sunday, Mr. Burchard's meetings conclude to-day. 

February 2. William Sheals and J. Smith gone to Montreal. 

4th. J. Sheals to Parishville. Asahel's eye is better. 

7Lh. Sunday, Harmon has a daughter born this morning. 

loth. Mary Wallis returned. Sold my oxen to C. Shepard for ^85. 

14th. Sunday, Clarinda is pretty steady at meeting. 

1 5th. Mrs. Peck died this evening of consumption. Mr. Young here 
from Vermont. Sent to Justus Smith ^158 by Reuben Post. 

17th. Mrs. Peck buried. Clarinda gone with John Sheals to Malone, 
gave her twenty-five cents. 

2 I St. Measles are about. Hay is scarce. Sheals thrashing. 

28th. Sunday, Alonzo Seeley died to-day, been ailing for a year. 

March 2. Asahel, Mary and children here. Seeley buried. 

4th. Mrs. R. quite unwell, also our little babe. Had a doctor. 

8th. Aunt Lucy here, also Mrs. Abbott and daughter. 

10th. The sick are better. Eliphalct Brush and lady here. 

I 2th. The snow is four feet in the woods. Severe storm, such as our 
fathers tell of sixty or seventy years ago. 

15th. Several deaths from measles. But little work since J. Smith left. 

21st. Sunday, at meeting. Elder Pratt preached. 

27th. Stage on wheels. D. Sylvester at work for Harmon. 

April 6. Sugaring. Robins sing even in the storm. 

1 5th. Asa Squire here. I have a severe cough. 

24th. Very springlike. Ploughing on Turnpike. 

27th. Gid. Abbott here on his old mare. Seems loath to leave. Mis- 
trust Sarah attracts him. 

30th. Abbott around again. Paid $1 for singing school. 

May 3. Hannah Corwin no better. Ground hard frozen. 

7th. Hannah Corwin is dead, a promising young girl of thirteen years. 

8th. Mary left little Marion with us, a promising babe. 

I 2th. Mrs. Sanford sick. Ceased stabling cows, for I have no hay. 

14th. Clarinda at J. Moon's ; their child is dead. 

1 8th. Backward season. Abbott's girls here. 

24th. Vegetation now coming on. Cherry trees in blow. Washed sheep. 

31st. Asahel dug up garden for me. I do not go out this spring. 
Clarinda gone to Parishville. 



362 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

June 2. Clarinda cleaning meeting-house. 

6th. Sunday, Charlotte gone to meeting. 

loth. Harmon sold a sheep. Corwin shearing. Asahel and father here. 

16th. Sarah more unwell. Take wool to machine. Ira Smith, S. 
Abbott and their wives here settling estate. Mr. Smith will go to Ohio soon. 
[This was the estate of Esther Post, mother of Mrs. Smith, Mrs. Abbott and 
Mrs. Risdon. — Ed.] 

19th. Mary Wallis gone home. Boys at Methodist camp meeting. 

22d. Mrs. R. at Asahel's. Hoeing these days. 

29th. Mrs. R. spinning wool. Circus in the village. Mr. and Mrs. 
Newman here. 

July I . Gave the assessors a statement of my property to tax. 

3d. Surveyed for commissioner of highways and for Mr. Corwin. 

7th. Our boys are Daniel Sylvester, William and John Sheals. 

loth. Artillery training. Been up to slash. 

13th. Harmon gone to Canton as a juror. 

1 6th. Josiah Smith raising a barn. Harmon returns. Mrs. R. and 
Clarinda spinning. 

25th. Sunday, Mr. Bachellor has preached a year. 

30th. Winnie pulling flax. Harmon cutting Asahel's grass over the 
brook. Crops of all kinds look well. 

August 2. Eight hands at haying. My health continues poor. 

8th. Mrs. R. and the girls to meeting. E. Hayden is dead. 

loth. D. Leach pays me $1.50 for writing. Been to Mr. Roberts's. 
Judge Sanford and others here. 

I 2th. John gone to Potsdam Academy. Surveyed for Mr. Eastman. 

I 5th. Sunday, a stranger preached. 

1 8th. Mr. Chipman returns a ^3 bill as not current. I must lose it, as I 
cannot tell from whom I got it. 

19th. Read of the loss of the steamboat " Erie" on Lake Erie by fire, one 
hundred and seventy lives lost. 

23d. Harmon, Sylvester and Wm. Sheals gone to military drill. 

26th. Harvesting wheat. Surveyed for J. Sanford, Esq. 

29th. Sunday, we have no preaching, only occasionally. 

31st. Surveyed for Messrs. Covey and Glidden. 

September i . Cast land for W. Eastman. Drawing in wheat. 

5th. Harmon, wife and Mrs. R. at meeting. Mr. Bachellor preached. 

6th. Harmon at Parishville training. Boys training at the village. 

8th. Boys at training at Potsdam. John goes back to school. 

14th. Harvesting oats and cutting corn. Mr. Rasey takes his rifle. Old 
Mr. Merritt is dead, aged seventy-three. He has been deranged several years. 

1 6th. Attended funeral of Mr. Merritt and of a child of Mr. Irish. 

1 8th. Paid to Mr. Hunt §3.50. Signed for Mr. Leonard's preaching. 
Surveyed for Eben Squire. 

2 I St. Clarinda returns from Parishville. Boys still haying, too late. 
24th. Jonah Sanford's boy broke my compass glass. 

28th. Orange B. Moon pays my account. Hereford works here. 
30th. Over to village with Henderson and Sheldon. Patrick Sheals pays 
my fee. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 363 

October l . Edna has a burnt hand. Cut a glass for my compass. 

6th. Digging potatoes, husking, etc. Harmon has much business away. 

7th. Harmon gone to fair at Canton. He has three hired men and a girl. 

8th. J. Sanford, son and daughter here. Mary weaving. 

I 2th. Harmon Icills a sheep and yet has pork. 

15th. Paid Delong J! 14 for a rifle which he warrants to be a good one. 

17th. Beatrice is sick. Clarinda there. 

19th. Forest leaves yellow and dry. Shooting with new gun. 

2 1 St. Asahel gone to New York. Charlotte sporting in the snow. 

Z4th. Sunday, part of the family at meeting in a wagon. 

26th. Clarinda at Asahel's. Harmon to Potsdam. Snowstorm. 

31st. Asahel returns. Sunday, another short summer ended. Pensive 
autumn is at hand. The green verdure and beauty of the season are fast fading 
away. The sun is receding — the shadows are lengthening. I am often at 
loss which most to admire, the wisdom of Deity in the order, regularity and variety 
of the seasons, or that spirit of love which we are permitted to enjoy in them 
as they succeed. 

November l. First day of election. Mrs. R. at Asahel's. 

3d. Boys at election. Paid Nathaniel Goodnow seventy-five cents. 

6th. Harmon after girl. Sylvester hunting. 

8th. Jonas G. Johnson pays me ^i. Stage on runners. 

loth. Wedding at Judge Sanford's. Daniel Sanford cutting stove wood 
forme. [This marriage was that of Permelia Sanford to Erasmus D. Brooks, 
late of Potsdam. Daniel was a son of Benjamin Sanford and resides at Hadley, 
Mich. — Ed. J 

izth. John Sheals returns from school. Cord wood in afternoon. 

15th. Put down carpet. Pay Daniel Sanford twenty-five cents per cord. 

I 8th. Harmon drives hogs into the woods for beechnuts. Daniel Syl- 
vester's time is out. 

26th. Munson's factory burned. O'Neal and W. Sheals working for me. 

30th. Harmon sold three cows. Now has more horses than cows. 

December 1. Clarinda at Noah Post's, his wife is very sick. 

6th. Filling woodhouse. Have forty cords of two and half foot wood. 
Will cut fifty so as to have a year's supply at hand. 

9th. Thanksgiving Day. Daniel Sanford working for Harmon. 

I 2th. Harmon and Clarinda attend Mr. Weeks' s protracted meeting at 
Parishville. He has large audiences. 

14th. Women quilting. W. M. Gould pays me $z, if the bill is good. 

19th. Sunday. Harmon, his wife and Sheals gone to Parishville meeting. 

Z2d. Have thrashing machine. Women on third quilt. 

24th. Found my old mare cast in the stable and dead. 

26th. Sunday, young people to Parishville. The family laments the loss 
of the old mare. 

28th. Clarinda gone to Potsdam. William Sheals and Sarah gone to 
wedding at Ogdensburg. 

31st. Stormy day. Wrote for A. Sheldon. Asahel with Marion here. 



364 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

The Year 1842 — Death o( Eliakim Seeley, a Pioneer — Old Mr. Silvester's House 
burns, Collecting Alms — Clarinda watches with Mrs. Andrews — Death of 
Mrs. Andrews — Mrs. H. Dewey and Gaius Sheldon — Take Wheat to 
Plattsburg — Parish only pays fifty Cents for Corn — Very sickly Time — 
Bring Hogs in from the Woods — Bones of a young Girl found near Parish- 
ville Village — Examination of one Cook — Prosecuted by Judge Sanford, his 
great Earnestness — Snowstorm June J J — Hurts Mr. Peck's Feelings — S. 
Hawley drowned at East Village — Exhibition wild Animals — Burial of Mrs. 
Ashbel Squire, also Asa Moon — Death of Mrs. Judge Sanford. 

January z. Sunday ; Harmon, wife and Clarinda to Parishville. Old 
Mr. Silvester's log house took fire and burned to the ground. 

4th. Eliakim Seeley died last evening, aged nearly seventy. He was one 
of the first settlers of this town and a respected citizen. Ashael takes Marion 
home. She has been with us nearly a week. She is a promising child. I have 
been highly pleased with her company. 

5th. Mr. Seeley buried. Sheals and Sarah return from Ogdensburg. 

7th. Mrs. R. sick. Harmon and Asahel collecting clothing, provisions, 
etc., for Mr. Silvester. 

loth. Killed my hog, Harmon a cow. A. Ainsworth and Winnie assist. 

13th. Mr. Lovell buried a daughter of eleven years to-day. 

I 5th. Daniel Sanford at work for Harmon by the month. Warren Clark 
and John Conlin make payments. Grandchildren are the crown of old men. 

1 6th. William Sheals and Daniel Sanford watched with Mr. Bennett. 
Clarinda only at meeting. 

18 th. Harmon gone to Ogdensburg. Money is very scarce. 

Tgth. Mrs. Andrews is very sick. W. Green is better. 

20th. Stage on wheels. Ann is sick. 

21st. Old Mrs. Rasey died in Pierrepont, aged seventy. 

2 2d. Mrs. Rasey buried. Thrashing and cleaning wheat. 

23d. Sunday, meeting held at west schoolhouse. 

24th. Clarinda watched with Mrs. Andrews. Dr. Sprague been unwell 
all winter. Mrs. Eli Roburds sick. 

25th. Clarinda at Mr. Roburds's. Very sickly time. 

27th. Mary R. sick. Samuel Abbott and lady here. 

29th. Jehial Austin pays $22 in Canada bills. Dr. Witherell to see 
Mary R. 

30th. Mary R., Sarah, Charlotte and Edna sick, Charlotte quite so. 
Have doctor. 

February 2. Mrs. Orin Andrews died this morning, aged nearly forty. 
She was one of our best women. Leaves a young family and a numerous circle 
of friends and relatives to lament her death. 

3d. Harmon at funeral of Mrs. Andrews with wagon. Charlotte ill. 

4th. Harmon at funeral of Mr. Sampson's child. J. Henderson's child, 
Fanny M., is dead. Sally Hopkins here. 

6th. Charlotte is better. Edna has the doctor. H. Dewey's wife is 
dead, aged about thirty-six. Mr. Foster holds meetings at the west schoolhouse. 

7th. Edna is quite sick, has the doctor. Sent money and tax receipts to 
Justus Smith. 

loth. Mrs. Gaius Sheldon is dead. She was one of the first settlers. 
Harmon has a sick house, two children and Ann. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 365 

llth. Harmon, Mrs. R. and Mrs. Kent at funeral of Mrs. Sheldon. 

14th, Charlotte and Edna very sick children. Use wagons now. 

I 8th. Dr. Witherell's child is dead. Joseph Allen, a young man, lives 
with Harmon. 

I gth. Our children some better. Daniel Sanford is sick. 

21st. A good deal of wheat is being carried east to Lake Champlain. 

24th. Making sugar in Potsdam. Children better, 

26th. Mr. Bachellor buried a child. Sheals returns from Champlain. 

March l. Harmon and Clarinda at flmeral of Pomeroy's son. 

4th. Boys at saw logs. Money is scarce. All grain very low. 

6th. Sunday, have another granddaughter. Charlotte and Edna take 
breakfast with me. 

8th. Austin Kent, wife and two daughters at his father's. 

I Ith. Mrs. R. returns. Mary has a fine daughter, weighs eleven pounds. 

izth. Clarinda and Sarah at Darius E. Kent's. Drive hogs to slash. 

1 5th. Dea. Hurlburt here. Clarinda and Mary at Mrs. Conner's; she is ill. 

19th. Making sugar night and day. J. Pomeroy buried another son. 

22d. Another quilt on. What does it mean ? 

25th. J. Cutler's son of eight years died this morning. Mary at Mr. 
Jennie's ; his daughter is sick. 

26th. Miss Lucina Jennie, aged fourteen years, died yesterday. Fatal 
sickness prevails. 

31st. March has been mild. No call for hay or grain. Money very 
scarce and all prices low. Mr. Parish only pays fifty cents for corn at distillery. 

April 2. Orange B. Moon makes payment. Asahel here. 

5th. At funeral of Mrs. Lewis. Boys at sugar. 

6th. Harry Smith buried two children to-day. 

loth. Sunday, Harmon, wife anil Clarinda attend temperance lecture. 
David Leach marries Mary Smitli this evening. [Mrs. Leach is still living at 
the old homestead on the Turnpike. — Eo.] 

16th. W. Eastman buried two children this week. 

I 8th. Mr. Eastman loses his third child. William Sheals lives with Dea- 
con Culver. C. Chubb' s child is dead. 

20th. Mrs. Kent does not improve, is very much deranged. 

22d. Mrs. Artemus Kent died last night. 

23d. Family mostly at fiineral of Mrs. Kent. 

24th. Sunday, several baptized at west schoolhouse. 

Z5th. Harmon and John to Potsdam. Paid for Missionary Herald. 

28th. Fields begin to look green. Many pigeons. Sowing grain. 

29th. Samuel Abbott is sick. Clarinda has gone there. 

May 1. Sunday, Harmon and Clarinda at meeting. Ann has gone home. 

4th. Sowing wheat at Newman's. Fields looking green. 

6th. Clarinda watched at Reuben Post's. Harmon uses two yoke oxen. 

8 th. Sunday, some go to village and others to west schoolhouse. 

loth. Women at soap making. Not many pigeons this spring. 

I 2th. Currants in blow. Swallows about. Mr. Manley here. 

14th. Cattle feed on grass mostly. Asahel has quite a fire on his land. 

19th. A fine growing time. Women cleaning house. 

2 1st. Boys bringing hogs from the woods, where they have been six weeks. 



366 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

22d. Sunday, Harmon and Mary at meeting. A duel has been fought 
between Wise and Stanly. [The Librarian at Washington says this difficulty 
was between Hon. Edward Stanly of North Carolina, and Hon. Henry A. 
Wise of Virginia, both Congressmen. A challenge was given, but the matter 
was settled without a duel. — Ed.] 

24th. Clarinda and Sarah gone to Parishville. Get a bottle of Moffit's 
medicine. [A Mr. Moffit was a neighbor. — Ed.] 

25th. A man was killed in Lawrence by the fall of a tree. 

28th. Mary R. and Clarinda at Asahel's. Boys planting. 

29th. Sunday, Methodists hold meeting in the village. 

30th. Asahel, wife and youngest child set out for Vermont. 

June 2. The bones of a young woman were found in Parishville, supposed 
to have lain two years. No one can say who she was at present or account for 
her death. Buried to-day. 

[It was soon, as I am told, satisfactorily ascertained that they were the 
bones of a girl about fourteen years of age that one John Conneli, a teamster for 
George Parish, drawing whiskey to French Mills (Fort Covington), had secured 
in Bombay as a helper in his family. The discovery of her remains caused some 
feehng and considerable excitement among the good people of Parishville. They 
were found about a mile east of Parishville village on a temporary log road lead- 
ing south from the Turnpike, near a spring. The girl was missed in the fall and 
this discovery made the second summer following. The indignation of the 
people finally reached that point that charges of some kind were made against 
one Paul Cook and an examination had before a justice of the peace. The 
people employed Judge Sanford to conduct the trial or examination. E. D. 
Brooks was then a merchant there and had only a short time previously married 
Permelia, daughter of Judge Sanford. I well remember Mr. Brooks telling me 
this story of the trial, which is worth repeating. 

Mr. Cook was a poor man and not overstocked mentally, — or at least a 
little peculiar or strange. Mr. Brooks and others believed him utterly and ab- 
solutely innocent of any offence. Knowing Judge Sanford' s tenacity and de- 
termination he feared the results, and so much so that, as he told me, he went 
down to Potsdam and hired William A. Dart, then a promising young lawyer, 
to come up and defend him. The trial came on just after dinner and the hall 
was packed. Judge Sanford drove up from his home and hitched his horse in 
Mr. Brooks's shed adjoining his store, and proceeded to the court room with 
vigor in his step and assurance in his mien. Mr. Brooks watched the trial for 
a while and then went back to his store. At supper time he went over to get 
them to go to tea. The Judge was learnedly and eloquently arguing some point 
as to evidence. When he had finished Mr. Brooks asked him over to tea, as 
he was his father-in-law, and Mr. Dart, as he had hired him. After tea the 
trial went on. At nine o'clock Mr. Brooks closed his store and went over to 
the court room for his guests. Again the Judge was in the midst of an elaborate 
argunient to the justice. He got a seat and listened for some time. After a 
while he made repeated efforts to get them to adjourn court till morning, 
which Mr. Dart was anxious to do, but to no purpose. The Judge felt 
that he was being unjustly excluded from giving certain testimony, and therefore 
that he had got to educate the justice to his way of thinking. With this belief 
upon him nothing could swerve him or stop him. His energy and endurance 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 367 

knew no limit and apparently had no boundaries. Mr. Dart was already 
fatigued and pacing the floor, as was his custom in after life. Whether he had 
then formed the habit of clinching his fists and grating his teeth when disturbed 
or annoyed I do not recall. Giving up getting an adjournment, as the Judge 
would not desist or let up, at about midnight Mr. Brooks whispered to the Judge 
and to Mr. Dart that he would leave his back door unbolted, with a light in 
their rooms, and that they could come over when they got ready, that he was 
going home and to bed. Arising in the morning he soon discovered that he had 
no guests. The candles had well burned down and the beds were undisturbed. 
Hastily going over to the court room he found the Judge on his feet, body bent 
over the table, right arm e.xtended, with forefinger almost touching the justice's 
face, and as vehemently and as eloquently pleading as ever. But few spectators 
were about and they, with the court, were drowsy and worn out. Mr. Dart 
had given up, taking an inclined position on a bench with his back against the 
wall. As Mr. Brooks entered he cried out, " For heaven's sake. Brooks, can't 
you stop him ? " When the Judge had finished he prevailed on them to ad- 
journ for breakfast. As they were crossing the street they passed close by Mr. 
Brooks's store shed and, noticing a rig in there at that early hour, he remarked, 
" 1 wonder whose horse is that? " The Judge, awakening as from a dream at 
the word horse, replied, "It is mine." So they unhitched him and took him 
along to breakfast also. Getting so enlisted in the trial he had forgotten the 
horse entirely. His physical and mental endurance were phenomenal. It 
would almost seem that he did not know such a thing as weariness or fatigue. 
However, his pertinacity did not avail him in this case. He had Httle or no 
evidence, and therefore no case was made. So far as I can learn it was never 
learned how the girl met her end or whether she was murdered or not. It is 
one of the many unsolved mysteries. — Ed.] 

June 4. Ploughing and planting. Apple trees now in blow. 

7th. Dr. Sprague called to see me, have taken a puke. Clarinda and 
Sarah at Samuel Abbott's quilting. 

8th. Dr. Sprague called again. Mrs. Abbott here. Corn, beans, etc., 
hurt with the frost. 

loth. Confined in the house. Harmon and Clarinda gone to Parishville. 

Ilth. Snow this morning. Lies on the roofs and trees. Thermometer 
thirty-one degrees in the morning. 

13th. Boys at sawmill. Mr. Brown raised a store at the village. 

15 th. Asahel Kent shearing sheep. Asahel brings me a rocking chair. 

18th. Shearing sheep. Mary and children here. Sarah rode out. 

20th. Julius Peck here. By an unguarded expression I hurt his feelings. 
I was wrong and am sorry. Have good regard for him. 

23d. Boys at work on the road. Martin Covey is unwell. 

26th. Sunday, young people at Methodist camp meeting in Bangor. 

28th. Rode out with Clarinda and Sarah. Letter from J. S. Chittenden. 

29th. Rode over to Samuel Abbott's with Asahel. School inspector here. 

30th. A young man aged fifteen was drowned in the mill pond at East 
Village. June has been a painfiil month to me. I am able to do some little 
business but no manual labor. 



368 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

July I. Harmon at the funeral of Mr. S. Hawley, drowned yesterday. 
Lucy Ann Sanford is dead. She was a daughter of Benjamin Sanford, aged 
twenty-two, and died in Vermont. Her mother is here. 

5th. Moving the old barn. Several people helping. 

6th. Asahel and others assisting Mr. Silvester raise house. Harmon 
boards twenty men, large family. 

8th. Mr. Taylor made me a pair of pantaloons and mended my coat. 
Harmon framing and building a shed. 

loth. A fatal accident happened to one or more at Chateaugay on the 4th. 

Iith. I hurt Mr. William Kent's feelings by a thoughtless expression. 
I very much regret it, for I would have no other than the kindest regards for and 
by my neighbors. 

1 2th. Harmon gone to court at Canton as juror, his wife with him. 

14th. Mr. Shearer, the tailor, left his bill. Harmon returns. 

1 8th. Asahel, his father and the children here. Children gone to an 
exhibition of wild animals at the village. 

zlst. Clarinda and Sarah gone to Parishville. Mrs. Laughlin here. 

Z4th. Sunday, young people at meeting. Mrs. Ashbel Squire is buried 
to-day. Mr. and Mrs. Squire were among the first settlers of this town. 

28th. Commenced haying. Have been at Asahel's for three days. 

31st. Sunday, have a new minister. John here from Potsdam. [There 
are no entries from August i to October 1 6, but a blank space was left, evidently 
intending to make the entries later. At the foot of the space is this memorandum, 
viz. n The blank pages are left on account of inability to write. I suffered severely 
this month. No one can describe my suffering unless it be some one afflicted with 
the same disease. No other can do it. 

October 16. Deacon Asa Moon is buried to-day. He was an old inhab- 
itant of this town. He died of a few days' sickness, aged about seventy-two. 
Good old man. 

17th. Harmon at work on his sheds. Digging potatoes. 

2 I St. Snow this morning. Boys husking. 

26th. Harmon surveying for Jonah Sanford. Sent money to Justus Smith 
by Caleb Wright. 

28th. Sarah gone to Malone. Clarinda at Mrs. Benj. Santbrd's. 

30th. Sunday, children at meeting. Sacrament administered. 

November 3. My health is apparently better. I walk out some. 

5th. Harmon has three hired men, large family. Doing fall work. 

8th. Election day. Mr. Pettibone, Mr. Rider and others here. 

loth. Harmon surveying for commissioner of highways near Ainsworth. 

1 2th. Mrs. Kent is quite sick. Wrote J. S. Chittenden. 

15th. Mr. Pearse gone to Ogdensburg for salt. J. Shields here. 

17th. Mr. Pearse returns. His wagon broke down in Canton. 

20th. Sunday, many people at meeting. Clarinda came from Asahel's. 

2 I St. Snow in the woods knee deep. A Frenchman is at work for me. 

28th. Pearse gone after the salt he left in Canton. 

December 3. Riley Ainsworth boards with us. Thrashing machine here. 

4th. Sunday, good sleighing. At meeting. Ezra Sheldon sick. 

6th. Sickness in Lee Eastman's family. I am confined to the house. 

8th. Thanksgiving Day. Harmon at Parishville mill. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 369 

9th. Harmon and wife gone to Malone. Asahel and wife here. 

13th. Mr. Newman and lady here. Drawing stove wood these days. 

14th. Mrs. Jonah Sanford is a very sick person. Ann is sick also. 

15th. Mrs. Sanford, wife of Jonah Sanford, Esq., died this evening at six 
o'clock. [A letter written at the time by Judge Sanford says her trouble was 
inflammation of the bowels. Very likely it really was appendicitis, a disease 
which the doctors failed to discover till within thirty years. — Ed.] 

I 7th. Riifus Greene fails, it is feared has consumption. 

1 8th. Sunday, the family mostly at the fiineral of Mrs. Sanford. 

20th. Killing hogs. Paid Mr. Bentley, the peddler, one dollar and a half. 

23d. Girls gone to John Shields's school at Parishville, Lower Falls. 

26th. Girls gone to Parishville singing school. Clarinda has new shoes. 

28th. Asahel has a Canada bill to pass without discount or return it. 

30th. Severe snowstorm. Cheerless days. [The next entry is June, 
1843. A space was left but never filled in. — Ed.] 

The Year 1843— A Letter to Edna in May — Tender Tribute to Childhood — 
Marriage of William Sheals — Asa Newton buried — Mrs. James Smith and 
Child buried — Harmon at Military Drill — Burial of Mrs. fohn Hoyt — Paid 
Rev. Northrup $7 — James Smith and Mrs. Benjamin Sanford marry — Wil- 
son killed in Mill at East Village, November 2 J — Riley Ainsworth fiddling. 

Charlotte is at school. Edna, in the absence of her sister, inclines to her 
grandfather for company. She is a very little girl, very amusing and flatters 
with an interesting grace. She is coming. I can hear her footsteps along the 
platform. As she enters she says : '■ It is warm to-day, grandfather. I want 
to go into the lot, up to the rock or to the barn. Here is your staff. Now put 
on your cloak and take hold of my hand." The force of her artless eloquence 
prevails. There is no escape. If am able to move I must go a short distance 
if no further. 

June 2. Planting potatoes. Young people from Vermont here. My 
health is some better. 

4th. Sunday, young people at meeting. Mary gains slowly. 

7th. Little Edna and I walkout when pleasant. Planting potatoes. 

9th. William Sheals works on Nathaniel Baldwin's farm. 

I ith. Sunday, young people at meeting. Mr. Pettibone preached. 

14th. Mrs. R. and Mary at Asahel' s and Noah Post's. 

17th. Harmon trying to wash sheep. Corn is up an inch. 

26th. William Sheals is married, came here with his wife. Harmon sur- 
veying in Stockholm. 

30th. Growing time. Reuben Post making cheese press. 

July 2. Sunday, no one at meeting. Dense smoke in the east. 

4th. Harmon and Mrs. R. go to Potsdam. 

5th. Asa Newton buried to-day, been sick more than a year. One leg 
taken off in the time. A. Kent building house for his son William. 

7th. Clarinda and Sarah at William Sheals's quilting. 

9th. The wife of James Smith died this morning. She died in child- 
birth. Her death was sudden and unexpected. She with her child was buried 
this afternoon. 

14th. Charlotte goes to school. A backward season. 



370 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

1 6th. Sunday, it appears Lucian Kent is disposed to leave the church. 

19th. The church and Lucian Kent are having a row. 

2 1 St. Paid Mrs. B. Sanford gl.25 on account of her son Daniel cutting 
cord wood. Mrs. R. milks three cows, Harmon milks thirteen. 

2 2d. Women picking geese. Riley sick. I keep the house. 

30th. Sunday, Mrs. R. at meeting. Old Mrs. Eastman sick. 

August I. Harmon is helping WilHam Sheals. John is at Mr. Kent's. 
Riley at the other place. O'Neil is not here. Clarinda and Mary go to Fort. 

zd. Harmon and O'Neil haying at Baldwin's for William Sheals. 

7th. An old gentleman by the name of Blanchard at work for me. 

8th. Harmon got me a pound of tea, two plugs of tobacco and three 
quarts of old whiskey. Paid Italian peddler ^2.50 for eyeglasses. 

9th. Mrs. Kent returned from the west to her husband, Austin Kent. 

I Ith. Mrs. R. and Mary at Asahel's. Boys haying for Sheals. 

I 2th. Mary Chittenden has the fourth daughter, born yesterday morning. 

16th. Drew a sketch of village lots for Miss Malcom. 

20th. Sunday, Charlotte and Edna at meeting. Clarinda returns from 
Asahel's. Miss Marion with her. 

23d. Harmon gone to miUtary drill at Potsdam. Cradling wheat. 

26th. Cradling wheat these days. Fine weather. 

30th. Sarah returns from Asahel's. Splitting rails, harvesting, etc. 

September 2. John gone to Potsdam. Clarinda had of me 25 cents. 

4th. Harmon at training. Been a painful day for me. 

6th. Mary here with her babe. Blanchard is through work. 

8th. Mary gone home. Mrs. R. at Newman's. 

loth. Sunday, Harmon and wife at meeting. 

1 Ith. Frost this morning. O'Neil is absent. His wife is sick. 

14th. Harmon surveying for H. Sheldon. Clarinda at Asahel's, chil- 
dren sick. 

15th. Mr. Webb, Saunders and ladies here. 

17th. John Sheals here from Potsdam school. 

18th. Harmon at training in Potsdam, sent money to Justus Smith. 

20th. Joseph Chittenden here from Vermont. Sarah quilting. Mrs. 
John Hoyt of Parishville buried to-day. 

2 1 St. Old Mrs. Roburds buried to-day. She was one of the first settlers. 

2 2d. Josiah Smith at work on hog house for me. 

23d. Mr. Asahel Kent plastering house for his son William. 

24th. Sunday, Clarinda and Sarah at meeting. 

Z7th. Lewis Hurlbut and lady here. Gathering corn. 

28th. Sent tax receipts to James Lenox, New York, by Asahel. 

30th. Paid Mr. Northrup, our minister, $2. Have paid him in all for 
year's preaching, f,j. Gathering potatoes. Another short summer has passed 
away. The foliage of the forest is taking on a pale yellow, and all vegetation is 
decaying. It is a season for sober thought. 

October 4. O'Neil had an old shirt and shirt flannel of me worth 
^1.62. Made a map. 

5th. Harmon, wife and children gone to Malone. Young Dewey gath- 
ering apples. 

8th. Sunday, Riley, John and R. Dewey here. No one at meeting. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 371 

loth. Paid peddler twenty-five cents for half pound of powder. 

I Ith. Ciarinda and Sarah rode out into Stockholm. 

13th. I am reading Comb's '* Constitution of Man" and "Phrenology." 

15th. Sunday, the family mostly at meeting, walked. 

17th. Finished potatoes, nearly six hundred bushels. 

2zd. Sunday, quite a snowstorm. Cattle in stable. 

2 3d. Nathaniel Baldwin raising sawmill. 

25th. Rockwell, a practical phrenologist, here. 

z6th. Harmon surveying for T. H. Laughlin. I formerly chased deer 
on such snow as we now have. 

30th. Blanchard wheeling in stove wood. Paid Bronson, the merchant 
at Parishville, ^6.50. 

November 2. A. Jenne killed a deer with my gun. 

4th. Sunday, road hard frozen. Stable the cows. 

7th. Election day. Paid John Henderson Mr. Lenox's tax. 

loth. Ground covered with snow for three weeks. Hardly enough for 
sleighing. 

izth. Sunday, Harmon at meeting in sleigh. Mrs. Kent unwell. 

14th. Josiah Smith carries Mr. Blanchard and two daughters to Keesville. 
I made him a present of sixty cents and a pound of tobacco. 

15th. James Smith, whose wife died in July, married to-day Mrs. Benja- 
min Sanford. Mr. and Mrs. Sanford separated about four years ago. 

I 8 th. John Sheals killed a deer, so he says. Gathering onions, turnips, etc. 

20th. District school commences. Riley and John live on their capital. 
Roswell at school, boards with Harmon. 

2 1 St. Samuel Wilson has lost his eldest son, a young man about eighteen. 
He was killed instantly in the machinery of the mill at East Village or Nichol- 
ville yesterday. Was badly mangled, head and limbs broken. 

22d. Mr. Wilson's son is buried to-day. Mary is better. 

2 5th. Harmon surveying for Lee Eastman. Mrs. R. paid peddler 
ten cents. 

27 th. Ciarinda at select school in the village, boards at Asahel's. 

zgth. Got a chest of Aaron Jenne for the town's weights and measures. 
Harmon gets James Rider's girl to work. 

30th. I read Mr. Comb's work with much interest. I have been want- 
ing a treatise on the philosophy of the mind. 

December z. Balch, the peddler, with two horses, over night. Ciarinda 
returns from school, finished her education soon. 

3d. Sunday. John Sheals gone to Malone to teach school. 

4th. Ciarinda learning arithmetic. Sarah sewing. Riley fiddhng. Mrs. 
R. winding yarn. I do some chores, milk two cows, bring water now and then. 

6th. Girls at William Sheals's. Harmon at Parishville. 

8th. Good v\'heeling. Post at work on our sheds. 

loth. Sunday, Harmon and wife at meeting. 

13th. Turkey shoot in the village, many there. Ciarinda at Asahel's. 

14th. Thanksgiving Day. Newman and lady here. 

1 6th. Have ten inches of snow. All hived up. Riley fiddles. Had 
better qualify for teaching or some other useful employment. 

17th. Sunday, Harmon, wife and Ciarinda at meeting, Mr. Balch here. 



372 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

I 9th. Asahel gone to Canton as juror. Harmon and wife to Potsdam. 

2 2d. Turkey shooting and gambling occupy the mind of too many. 

25th. Young people supped at Newman's. 

27th. Jonah Sanford, Jr., cut himself badly. Mrs. R. returns from 
Asahel' s. 

The Year J 844 — Marriage of Sarah Sheals and Stephen Wescott — Loss of Child 
and Property — Snow four feet — Riley Ainsworth fiddling and Daniel Sanford 
dancing — Both still living — Minister goes West — Inventory of Property — 
Burning Brush and Log Heaps — Militia training — Potatoes rotting — Dema- 
gogues in Politics — Rough Elections. 

January 5. A snowstorm, such as the Yankees tell of in New England 
seventy-five years ago. 

6th. Lee Eastman and lady here, John Post also. . 

8th. John Post is here yet, fetched water for the girls to wash. 

9th. Michael Johnson takes a pair of moccasins at seventy-five cents. 

1 6th. Joseph Brush here. Harmon at Parishville mill. 

20th. Very cold, sixteen below zero. William Kent and lady return. 

zist. Sunday, young people at meeting. Great cry for hay. 

24th. Killed our hogs. Elias Post cutting a hole in the ceiling for stove- 
pipe in the best room, other house. 

25th. A good deal of fixing and dressmaking. I cannot say what it will 
end in. Charlotte says they are going to have company. 

26th. Very cold. Putting up stove in best room, cooking, etc. I ap- 
prehend something is up. I note smiling faces, except Sarah appears sedate. 

27th. Preparations still going on. All business seems to be suspended. 
The wheat thrashed a week ago lies on the barn floor, partially cleaned. 

29th. Women washing, scrubbing house and cleaning gowns, caps, etc. 
Mr. Wescott, a young man from Malone, an only son of a good family, is here 
and is to marry Sarah Sheals, a daughter of Mrs. Asahel Kent, this eve at eight. 

31st. Several young people from Malone and hereabouts were present last 
eve, a very respectable wedding. Mr. Stephen Wescott and lady will return to- 
morrow. 

[Mr. Wescott earned and acquired a fine farm and property near Malone. 
After some years he moved into Malone village and went into business with an- 
other or others. He got terribly involved and lost everything he had. His only 
child, a promising boy, died at the age of sixteen. His wife, broken in spirit 
and body by her son's death, sickened and died, and alone in the world he 
sought work, an old man, as a hostler. He loved a fine horse and in his pros- 
perous days always had one or more fine steppers. I saw him last in this posi- 
tion at the hotel in Parishvillle a few years ago. I had not learned of his mis- 
fortune, but I felt sure I knew him, aided much by the fact that he had but one 
eye. Atier making myself known I endeavored to engage him in conversation 
that I might verify my convictions as to his identity, but, to my surprise, he 
seemed disinclined and I was compelled to turn away, leaving him at the stable 
with the horses and his musings. Poor old man! My heart went out to him, 
but he was too high spirited to receive it. He seemed not to ask or want the 
sympathy or help of those he had known. He accepted his lot with stoicism, 
and did his work well, dying, not long since, as he had lived. Brave man. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 373 

Peace to his ashes. Such a spirit, after such a struggle and such a fate, should 
meet his Sarah again. Not to do so would seem almost cruel. Sarah Sheals 
and Clarinda Risdon were of about the same age and close friends from youth 
to the end. They were also bright, pleasing, comely young women with a 
large circle of admiring friends. — Ed.] 

February I. Harmon, Sheals and their wives accompany Mr. Wescott 
and lady to Malone. Clarinda, Harriet and other young people will go as far as 
Jefferson's. Sarah showed much tender feeling on parting with us. 

5th. Paid Mr. Short's, J. Lenox's and my own taxes. Got nine yards 
of full cloth of Samuel Abbott. Money is very scarce. 

8th. Hay ^8 per ton. Conlin at work for Harmon. 

loth. Riley and Lucina at school. A severe winter. 

Ilth. Sunday, Harmon, wife and Clarinda at meeting. 

13 th. Old Mr. Wescott and lady here, also Mr. Northrup and lady. 

15th. Davis Witherell here with four yards factory cloth. Mr. Smith 
returns from Vermont. 

1 6th. Harmon, wife and Clarinda at Lee Eastman's. 

I 7th. Old Mr. Laughlin is not the same man as formerly. 

20th. Town meeting. J. Rider and lady here. 

zzd. Wescott and Sarah here from Malone. 

24th. Wescott, Webb and ladies return to Malone, Clarinda with them. 

27th. Severe winter. Many cattle only get straw and what they can by 
browsing. The snow is four feet in the woods. 

zgth. Riley Ainsworth has boarded with Harmon. They have done 
little aside from chores. Thrashed with machine and wood cut a year ago. 

March l . Harmon and wife away. Riley fiddling and Daniel dancing. 

3d. Sunday, Clarinda returns from Malone. 

5th. Riley has a lame hand, can't fiddle, so he and D. Sanford play 
checkers. Too prodigal of youthful time. 

9th. Exhibition at the village last evening. The fiddle a-going again. 

I oth. Sunday, Mary, Clarinda and Lewis, the French boy, are at meeting. 

1 2th. R. Post mowng to Norfolk. Boys at the sugar works. Sheep 
find some bare spots. 

13 th. Nelson Crouch buys the place where Reuben Post lives. 

1 8th. But few have tapped. There is much snow yet except in spots. 

20th. Mary Chittenden here. Tedious day. Boys sugaring. My ther- 
mometer is broken. Women quilting. Sleighing gone. 

April 3. Snow two feet in the woods yet. Little Marion with us. 

7th. Girls at meeting. Marion continues with us. 

loth. Sent money to Mr. Smith by T. H. Laughlin. 

I 2th. Mr. Gillen has worked for me at thirteen dollars per month. 

15 th. Gillen making fence, boys ploughing, farmers all engaged. 

20th. Lewis and John ploughing at the other place. 

2 1 St. No one at meeting. No preaching, minister gone to the far west. 

z6th. Been with Clarinda and Charlotte for cowslips. Bought a yoke 
of oxen of Harmon at sixty dollars. 

30th. Sowing wheat. The women have commenced cleaning house. 

May 1. Mrs. Gillen assisting Clarinda. Fine growing time. 

8th. Asahel gone to New York. Making garden, my health is poor. 



374 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

I Ith. Mrs. Kent, Mary and Edna gone to Malone. Apple trees in blow. 

1 6th. Samuel Abbott's daughters here. Mr. Kent's house looks very 
sleek after painting. Its splendor makes our home look the more humble. 

17th. Sent money to Mr. Smith by Maria Abbott. Harmon is away. 

19th. Harmon and Clarinda at meeting. Mr. Montague preached. 

2 1 St. Mrs. Baldwin is sick. Mary is there. Nathaniel Goodnow's 
child is buried. 

2 2d. A light frost. Preparing land for potatoes. 

31st. Abel from Vermont, Perkins of Parishville and Stanley's son from 
Malone and women folks here. 

June I . Harmon has seven calves, four horses, milks twelve cows, has 
two yoke oxen. I claim one pair however. He has five hogs. I have two 
hogs, one horse, three cows, one is dry. 

3d. Harmon on the road as commissioner. Mr. Grow planting corn. 

4th. Been myself at work on road from Durfey's south to Turnpike. 

5th. Harmon on Northwest Bay road as commissioner. 

6th. Mr. Culver took assessment. Abel has gone. 

9th. Sunday, Harmon, Mary and Clarinda at meeting. 

I Ith. Clarinda watched with Noah Post's sick child last night. 

I 2th. Wescott and Sarah here. Planting potatoes. Meacham here. 

14th. A man in Lawrence cut his own throat and is dead. A son of 
P. Corwin [it may be Converse] about fifteen years of age was instantly killed 
to-day by a wagon passing over his breast. 

15th. Harmon surveyed on road to Gossville. People burning brush and 
log heaps in various directions. Much smoke. 

17th. Women washing at the brook. I have been to N. Crouch's. 

19th. Charlotte and Edna at school. Mrs. R. and Mary at Asahel's. 

20th. Wheat is g I.I 2 i^ and corn seventy-five cents. Asahel gone to 
Vermont. 

23d. Mrs. Eliphalet Brush here. Harmon, wife and Lucina at meeting. 

26th. Harmon shingling for Mr. Kent. Gillen at stove wood. 

30th. Sunday, Harmon, wife and Clarinda at meeting, no preaching. 

July 4. Cannons are roaring. Marion and Beatrice here. 

6th. Horse racing, poor business. Gillen cutting wood for me. 

loth. Women spinning. Cool nights and mornings. 

I 2th. Asa Squire is badly hurt in his mill. 

13th. Old Mrs. Pire is dead. Clarinda at Asahel's. 

14th. Sunday, the family is at the funeral of Mrs. Pire. 

1 8th. Edwin Post and his father working for me. Harmon borrowed 
gio to buy grain for family use. 

19th. Clarinda and John gone to Potsdam. 

27th. Clarinda gone to Lawrenceville. She borrowed twelve and a 
half cents of Lucina. 

August 5. Poor hay weather. Mrs. R. making cheese. 

loth. Haying at the other place these days. Clarinda making cheese. 

I Ith. Sunday, Harmon, Mrs. R. and Edna at meeting, had preaching. 

13th. Mrs. R. at P. Mosher's. Mr. Webb and lady here. 

16th. Harmon at widow Moon's bee. Commenced cradling. 

I 8th. Harmon, Clarinda, Charlotte and Edna at meetmg. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 375 

2zd. Showery time. There is much ripe wheat. 
Z4th. Harmon at miUtary drill at Potsdam. Boys harvesting, 
zyth. Aunt Lecta here. Wheat is growing and it stands in many fields. 
September 2. Militia training. John and Lewis drawing wheat. 
4th. Wedding at Winney's. Politics are the all absorbing topic. 
6th. Harmon and Lewis gone to Potsdam training. 

8th. Mr. WalHs's daughter, aged twelve, died to-day. Harmon and 
Harriet at meeting. 

1 I th. Been with commissioner to find true line of road from guideboard 
near East Village to S. Ducoy's farm. 

13th. Boys spreading flax. Harmon at Gossville. 

15th. Abbott's people here. Much excitement over poUtics. 

20th. John and Gillen cut rowen for me. Whig and Loco, meetings. 

2 2d. Sunday, my health is far better, possibly may be restored. 

23 d. Maron Grossman and lady here from Vermont. Hard frost. 

24th. Been surveying on Short Tract. Paid H. Brooks, ^5. 

26th. Digging potatoes, husking corn. I have one thousand pumpkins. 

28th. Harmon returns from a Whig mass meeting at Malone. Much 
complaint all over the country of potatoes rotting, even after being put in cellar. 
Many have taken them out to air them. 

30th. Mrs. R. at S. Abbott's. Henry Clay is again a candidate for the 
presidency. So also is James K. Polk. The parties are making a tremendous 
effort to elect their favorite. There are many demagogues on each side, and 
they appear to have no scruples of conscience. 

October l . Very cold. Ice an inch thick in wash kettle. 

4th. John gone fishing. Lucina still with us. Mary has another girl. 

6th. Sunday, forest leaves and vegetation are dying. 

8th. Asahel gone to New York. John Winnie at work for me. 

loth. Harriet returned from Malone, Clarinda at Asahel's. 

I 2th. Political mass meetings often. Wescott and Sarah here. 

14th. Clarinda will stay at Asahel's till he returns. 

1 6th. Killed five black and gray squirrels in Mr. Kent's woods. 

I 8th. The political parties run too much to personal abuse and defamation. 

19th. Powerful wind, many forest trees and fences thrown down. 

22d. Been with John to Mr. Wallis's, very pleasant being about. 

24th. Asahel has returned. Surveying for Gillen and Conlin. 

26th. P. Mosher hands me ^50 in Canada bills. Artemus Kent is sick. 

28th. Harmon gone to Potsdam. Mr. Kent's disease has settled in his 
arm and hand. Tedious storm, cattle and sheep flock to barn for shelter. 

30th. Seldom so severe a storm at this time of year. Now have fifteen 
inches of snow. 

November 5. Election day, have voted. Much noise and rough language 
to be heard. Several got intoxicated. The result will be anxiously awaited. 

6th. Been up to R. Greene's surveying. Ground covered with snow. 

7th. William Sheals has court at the village. Harmon and John testify. 

8th. Philip Mosher pays me §60 in Canada bills. The Locos, will carry 
this county by twelve or fourteen hundred. 

I 2th. Harmon has thrashing machine. Clarinda at Asahel's. 

14th. The Locos, will probably prevail in this state. 



376 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

15 th. Franklin Blanchard is at work for me, will work a month for four 
dollars in money. Harmon away with his thrashing machine. 

I 8th. Reuben Post over night. Blanchard chopping. 

Z4th. At wood these days. Clarinda returns from Asahel's. 

28th. Destructive wind and flood at Buffalo, N. Y., many lives were 
lost and much property destroyed. It seems a good part of city was inun- 
dated. The loss of life is shocking to read. 

December 2. Drawing wood that J. Smith cut. Henry Post here. 

3d. Sent money to Justus Smith by Josiah Smith. 

4th. Old Mr. Chittenden here. Mrs. R. does the housework in Cla- 
rinda' s absence. 

9th. Clarinda returns from Asahel's. Cutting wood these days. 

1 2th. An infant school is being kept in the village. Newman and lady here. 
1 6th. Blanchard has worked a month. He has had two pairs of flannel 

undershirts and two pairs of drawers, ^2.50 and twenty-two and one-half cents 
in money. He will work awhile longer at $"] a month. 

2 I St. Blanchard unwell. Has worked a month and six days. Quits. 
29th. Sunday, young people at meeting at west schoolhouse. 

The Year J 845 — People have to assist the Stage — Death of Mrs. Elisha Risdon, 
January JO — A beautiful Tribute to her Memory — Rev. Roswell Pettibone 
preached and Judge Sanford took: Charge — Huldah Kent marries Mr. Tilden 
- — Death of Seth Abbott, a Pioneer — Many public Meetings and much Excite- 
ment over the Project of a Railroad through the County — A History of 
the Struggle for the Road — A Child of eight Years Spinning — Book 
opened in the Village for Subscriptions to the Railroad — Log Fires in all 
Directions — Mrs. Risdon's Gravestone costs $40 — Judge Sanford marries 
Harriet Barney — Women dipping Candles — Death of Asahel Jeane. 

January 4. Winter weather. A daughter born to my son Harmon and 
wife Mary. We now have seven granddaughters. 

6th. Been with Eastman and Stevens on the Lenox tract. Sold them 
some pine timber. Mary is quite feeble, baby is well. 

8th. Went with Asahel for a ride into the south woods, to Gossville. 

loth. G. H. Covey and R. Post here. Harmon to Brasher. 

I 2th. Sunday, Harmon and Clarinda gone to Stockholm to meeting. 

14th. Clarinda gone to Norfolk with E. Post and lady. 

16th. Manda Covey here. Paid Leander Perkins ^2.88 for medicine. 

1 8th. Mr. Webb and Nicholas here. Harmon gone with Nicholas to 
Stockholm. Company in plenty. 

zoth. Luther Sylvester works Harmon's thrashing machine. 

Z4th. Clarinda and Sarah at W. Sheals's. Mr. Wescott here. 

27th. Wescott and lady return to Malone. 

30th. J. Webb and lady here. Charlotte is sick. Harmon to Brasher's. 

February 2. Sunday, coldest day this winter so far. 

4th. Very cold. Mrs. R. is sick. A Yankee storm is raging. 

6th. The storm continues. The stage passes greatly out of time with 
much assistance from the inhabitants. Mrs. R. is no better, is quite sick, has 
had no nurse but Clarinda for three nights and days. 

7th. The storm has abated. Mrs. R. continues sick. Mary R. called 
in. Mrs. Kent came over and remained with Mrs. R. all day. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 377 

8th. Killed my hogs. Mrs. Risdon is no better. The doctor is here. 

9th. Sunday, the doctor says Mrs. R. cannot live long. 

loth. Mrs. Risdon breathed her last at about five o'clock this morning. 
She has a pleasant smile on her countenance, lovely even in death. Mrs. Ris- 
don's constitution was not strong. She was troubled with phthisic in the latter 
part of her life. However her general health was quite good and along in the 
fore part of winter was better than common for her. Monday previous to her 
death she complained of feeling unwell. She was up, however, on Tuesday, 
sat at the table for breakfast Wednesday and Thursday. Mrs. Kent, a neighbor 
of her age, was with her all day Friday. She conversed pleasantly and freely 
with us all day. We apprehended nothing serious. Saturday morning Dr. 
Sprague was called in. He also called in the evening. I felt something 
alarmed at this time. She was troubled with a cough but said she was free from 
pain. Sunday morning the doctor called again. He was convinced at this 
time she would not survive her sickness and notified her of her situation. She 
heard it calmly and composedly, was entirely resigned. She conversed freely 
with her children and her friends all day. Something was said about sending for 
her absent brother Reuben, but she thought not best then. She did not expect 
to die so soon. S. Chittenden, Sr. , called in toward evening and prayed with 
her. She took a deep interest in his prayer and in conversing with him and 
others. It seemed to mc that her last day was the happiest of her life. At 
about twelve o'clock at night she fell into a drowse from which she never awoke 
and passed away without a struggle or a groan. We were married in August, 
I 8 1 1 , have lived together over thirty-four years. It was a severe trial for me 
to give her up. Her peaceful death, nor the consolation of religion seemed to 
avail anything in composing my troubled feelings. She was a woman of strict 
integrity and great benevolence. Hers was a native goodness, unadulterated by 
art or design. She was unassuming in manner, free from vanity, and shrank 
from any appearance of display of person, dress or abilities. She read much and 
took a deep interest in all missions and charitable societies. She had read the 
Missionary Herald, printed in Boston, for over twenty years and took a deep 
interest in its work. The Bible was her darling book. She was an everyday 
Christian and held great faith in the merits of her Saviour. She was a kind 
mother, hospitable to the poor and needy, a notable housewife, neat and indus- 
trious. It was my misfortune to be much confined by sickness. During it all 
her attentions to me were unremitted and always kind and tender. 

llth. Many neighbors in and out. Mrs. Andrews assisting in making 
graveclothes. 

1 2th. Mrs. Risdon is buried. The funeral was attended by a large 
audience. The Rev. Roswell Pettibone preached. Judge Sanford directed the 
procession. The demeanor was very respectfiil. I felled the forest in 1806 
where her remains lie and where mine shall lie. 

14th. Harriet Shcals continues with us. Pensive and lonely days. 

1 8th. Town meeting day. Wrote a letter to Ira Smith in Ohio. 

2 5th. D. Brooks and lady here. Huldah, daughter of Asahel Kent, 
married this evening to Mr. Tilden of Stockholm, a young man of good family. 
Sophronia Jenne, a girl of thirteen years, died this morning. 

26th. Clarinda and others making graveclothes for Miss Jenne. 



378 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

27th. Miss Jenne buried to-day. Wrote brother and sister Pratt. 
Stage on wheels. 

March 2. Sunday, Harmon and Clarinda at meeting. No preaching. 

4th. Luther drawing rails. Been confined to the house for three weeks. 

6th. Poor sleighing. Harmon at Parishville. Marion here. 

8th. Tapping sugar works. Darius E. Kent is fast paying for land 
bought of Mr. Short. [He became rich. — Ed.] 

loth. Harmon and John at sugaring. Luther has left. 

1 2th. Sent g 1 46. 79 by W. Partridge to Mr. Smith. Ellen Kent here. 

13th. W. Davidson and Ainsworth cutting wood. Lucy and Harriet 
cooked dinner. 

1 6th. Sunday, Harmon at N. Post's ; his wife is sick. 

1 8th. Take provisions, etc., for the sick at N. Post's. 

2 1st. Rode with Mr. Stevens. Phi. Putnam here. 

23d. Sunday, preaching at west schoolhouse. 

24th. D. Morgan and L. Perkins make payment. 

27th. Many pigeons. At work at flax. 

30th. Sunday, summer birds singing. Harriet Abbott gone. 

31st. Seth Abbott is dead. Died in Lawrence at his son-in-law's, very 
suddenly. Aged about seventy-three ; one of the first settlers of this town. 
[He died at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Lucetta Peck, in Nicholville. 
She now lives at Potsdam, N. Y. — Ed.] 

April I . Grow at work for me. Deacon Abbott buried in Hopkinton. 

6th. Sunday, Mrs. W. Kent has a daughter. My health is bad. 

8th. Grow and son at stove wood. 

loth. Boys at sugar, and cutting saw logs. J. and I shoodng crows. 

1 2th. Snow only to be seen in shady places. 

15th. Clarinda at N. Post's. Painfiil day for me. 

17th. Harmon drawing sugar ashes to the village. 

2ist. People beginning spring work. Made about nine hundred pounds 
of sugar in all. 

24th. Clarinda quilting. John and myself piled wood. 

27th. Sunday. It is now six months since I began to stable cows, and 
still doing it. 

30th. John at leach. Mary making soap. Dr. Sprague sick. 

May 2. Clarinda at soap. Asahel and his father here. 

4.th. Sunday, no one at rrieeting. Have a new minister. 

7th. Clarinda at Asahel's. Cattle live on grass mostly. 

1 2th. Smoke rises in various directions. Charlotte and Edna go to 
school. Women cleaning house. 

13th. Mr. Pettibone with us last night, made us a friendly visit. 

15th. Snowed all day. Leaves of the forest are considerably out. 
Clarinda and John whitewashing. 

17 th. Asahel, Mary and all their children here. Harmon at Samuel 
B. Abbott's raising house. [John H. Leach house I feel sure. — Ed.] 

1 8th. Aaron Jenne is in poor health. 

2 2d. Asahel logging and clearing his land and putting in crops. 

25th. Sunday, Mr. Warriner and Miss Goodell marry privately. Two 
inches of snow have fallen. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 379 

30th. Quite a frost. Ice in tubs and iiettles. 

31st. Been with Charlotte and Edna to Asahel's. 

June I . Apples and currants destroyed by the frost. 

6th. Harmon and Clarinda gone to Potsdam. Jane Abbott here. 

9th. Smoke fills the air. Boys planting potatoes. 

14th. Clarinda and Lucy at Harriet's school. Fine growing time. 

1 6th. Paid Dr. Dunton $2 for counsel with Dr. Sprague in September. 

19th. Shearing sheep. Mr. Grow and Crouch assisting. Lucy gone to 
Malone in stage. 

22d. Sunday, Methodists hold meeting in the grove at the Fort. 

Z3d. Paid E. Jenne ^4.48, Mr. Short's tax in school district No. 13. 

25th. Lucina here on visit. There is more talk of a railroad again. 

27th. Mary with her babe and John gone to Malone. Samuel Abbott's 
daughter here. 

30th. Mary and John return from Malone. J. Wescott, it is thought, 
will lose one of his eyes from an injury caused by a broken piece of board in 
chastising a fractious cow. The railroad excitement prevails again with a good 
deal of animation. Meetings are held and the question discussed in flowing 
speeches in the several villages of this county, as also in Franklin and Clinton. 
It is said that the millionaires of Boston advocating a railroad for that city to 
Burlington on Lake Champlain in Vermont, that is, to communicate with the 
Northern New York Railroad. Should Whitney succeed in his project of a 
railroad from Lake Michigan over the Rocky Mountains to Oregon, a com- 
munication will be opened by railroads and steamboats passing through St. Law- 
rence County in the way from Boston on the Atlantic Ocean to the mouth of 
the Oregon on the Pacific, crossing over all of North America. Enterprise and 
industry will accomplish wonders. 

July 2. Railroad excitement runs high, meetings are held often. 

Story of the building of the Northern Railroad (O. and L. C.) and of the Potsdam 
and Watertown (R. W. and O.). 

[I am surprised to find that a railroad was contemplated or even thought of 
across the continent to the Pacific at so early a date as this. If I remember cor- 
rectly such a road was not completed — the Union and Central Pacific — until 
1869 or 1870. It did not terminate at the mouth of the Oregon as was thought 
it would in 1845, but at San Francisco. The expense of building a road was so 
burdensome then that they sought to use water for as much of the route as pos- 
sible. The first steps taken to secure a railroad for the benefit of this county 
were by a meeting held in Ogdensburg, March 17, 1830, when a committee of 
twelve was appointed to collect information. The project then was to build a 
road from Ogdensburg by way of Lake Champlain to Boston. Application was 
made to Congress for aid, and this failing petitions were sent to the state legisla- 
ture. A convention was held in Malone, December 17, 183 I, for the purpose 
of promoting the project, but nothing tangible was done, though personal work 
was kept up till May 21, 1836, when the Champlain and Ogdensburg Railroad 
was incorporated with a capital of $800,000. Messrs. S. Gilbert and S. Still- 
well of St. Lawrence, with others, were empowered to open books for subscrip- 
tion to stock. About this time the plan of a road from Ogdensburg directly 
through to Albany was discussed, resulting in a public meeting held at Matilda- 



38o EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

ville, March 27, 1837. The moneys subscribed for the road to Lake Champlain 
were first reloaned and afterwards refunded to the subscribers. That company 
failing to organize, a convention was held at Malone, August 8, 1838, when a 
committee was named to gather statistics. From their report I find there were 
in this county then eight iron furnaces yielding thirty-seven hundred and ninety 
tons ; seven foundries making seven hundred and eighty-five tons of castings ; 
eight trip hammer shops ; sixty-three asheries yielding eighteen hundred tons ot 
pot and pearl ashes ; six merchant mills ; forty-two gristmills ; three lead mines ; 
one copperas mill ; two plaster mills ; four marble mills ; one hundred and thirty- 
seven sawmills, eleven of which yielded annually seven hundred thousand pieces 
of lumber ; two distilleries ; one brewery and two satinet and woollen mills. The 
product of the county in butter and cheese was annually five hundred and seventy- 
one tons and the freight of the county estimated at ^i 17,294. The result ot 
this work was an act passed April 18, 1838, authorizing a survey of the proposed 
routes not to cost to exceed §4,000. In May, 1840, commissioners were ap- 
pointed to conduct the work and estimate the cost of a road. The Port Kent 
route passed up the valley of the Ausable River, down the St. Regis River and 
thence by way of Parishville and Potsdam to Ogdensburg. Its length was one 
hundred and thirty-one miles, and maximum grade ninety-five feet. The Platts- 
burg route led to Malone and Moira, whence two routes were surveyed to Og- 
densburg, one by Norfolk and Columbia (Madrid village) and the other by 
Potsdam. The distance by Norfolk was one hundred and twenty miles and by 
Potsdam two miles farther. The estimated cost of the former was J 1,778, - 
459.24 and of the latter gl, 923, 108. 09. An effort was then made to secure 
state aid on the ground that it was of military importance in case of war, which 
failed. Nothing daunted, the friends of the project kept to work. In the ses- 
sion of 1845 the Syracuse and Utica sought to increase its capital. The roads 
now composing the New York Central from Albany west were opposing the 
bills for other roads. In turn they were opposed in their projects, and in order 
to get help they had to help others. The bill incorporating the Northern Rail- 
road was passed May 14, 1845, and signed by the governor only twenty min- 
utes before adjournment. Its capital was ^2,000,000 in shares of $50. In 
1845 James G. Hopkins of Ogdensburg, formerly of Hopkinton, issued a pam- 
phlet on the subject giving much valuable information. In June, I 846, a com- 
pany was organized with George Parish, president, James G. Hopkins, secre- 
tary, etc. I do not see as any one from Potsdam was in the directory, or from 
eastern St. Lawrence, save J. Leslie Russell of Canton. In the fall of 1847 
contracts were let for the construction of the road within two years. It was not 
fully completed till October, 1850, the last work being done near Deer River 
bridge in Lawrence. The road cost, including fixtures and equipment, §5,022,- 
12 I. 3 I. The freight of the county in 1838 was estimated to be §117,294. 
I have been over the freight of the county at the present time with a railroad man 
and it figures over a million dollars and with passenger fares over a milhon and a 
half dollars. The freight at the Potsdam depot alone must exceed that of the 
entire county in 1838 by more than §3o;ooo, and including passenger fares by 
more than §75,000. The butter and cheese product was then placed at five 
hundred and seventy-one tons per annum. It is now estimated that the annual 
product is five thousand tons. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 381 

Mr. Charles W. Leete tells me of the struggle, trials and disappointments 
of the people of Potsdam over the location of the road, which will be of interest. 
The road was built and handled by Boston and New England men and capital 
assisted by local subscriptions to stock. They came to Potsdam and many other 
villages in the country, holding meetings and getting the people much enthused. 
The people subscribed liberally, every one taking all he could, believing the road 
would pass through the village and on to Canton and Ogdensburg. Mr. Leete, 
then a clerk, took two shares, ^100. When they came to build it did not go 
through Norfolk or Potsdam, but between these places. Just why cannot now 
be ascertained. Some say it was due to the cheaper right of way, some to the 
efforts of Benjamin G. Baldwin, who had located at Potsdam Junction, and some 
to a lack of push and liberality on the part of the leading men of Potsdam. Mr. 
Leete is quite certain it was not the latter, as they took a deep interest in it and 
subscribed liberally. Mr. E. H. Abram, born in 1828, though living in Par- 
ishville, took almost as much interest in its location as Potsdam people. As he 
remembers it, the failure to get it to pass through Potsdam village was very 
largely due to the mesmeric influence of Canton men, headed by Silas Wright, 
over the leading men of Potsdam in getting the latter to join them, tie up to 
them, insisting that the road should go to Canton from Potsdam. This the rail- 
road people did not wish to do, as it lengthened the road, and as they had a bee 
line route from Potsdam to Ogdensburg with no grading or cutting to speak of. 
Silas Wright was governor of the state for the years 1845 and 1846, and a pow- 
erful man in state and national matters. Sewell Raymond, as he remembers, 
stubbornly opposed any alliance, offensive or defensive, with Canton, but with- 
out avail. He insisted in private and public meeting that Potsdam should look 
after its own interests and Canton do the same, that if she did she would get the 
road, and if she tied up with Canton there was great danger that she would not. 
Mr. George S. Wright, born in 1824, says that as he remembers it was due to 
the death of Silas Wright, who died suddenly August 27, 1847. The directors 
of the road were to meet in Albany on a certain day and decide on the location 
of the road. Mr. Wright had agreed to attend the meeting and look out for the 
interests of Potsdam and Canton, but died a day or two prior thereto, which, 
with his funeral, upset all their plans. As Mr. George S. Dayton remembers, 
its location where it is was due to its straight line, cheap right of way and the 
strenuous effort and liberality of Benjamin G. Baldwin, who owned a large part 
of the present village of Norwood and wished to make a village there. Mr. 
Josiah L. Brown, born at Parishville Centre in 183 i, remembers it as does Mr. 
Dayton, excepting that he does not recall any particular effort or influence by 
Mr. Baldwin. The right of way where it is was much cheaper, and the Boston 
capitalists were only looking to get to the lake by the shortest and cheapest route, 
seemingly caring but little for the interior villages. George Parish was president 
of the road. He took umbrage at something and never rode on the road. 
When he went to Plattsburg he drove a team. Possibly the northerly location 
of the road, as he owned the town of Parishville, was the cause of his feehng. 

When it was decided to locate it where it is, the people of Potsdam were 
greatly chagrined, disappointed and excited. Many of them refused to pay for 
and take the stock for which they had subscribed and contested its payment in 
the courts. They also went to the legislature with petitions seeking for some 
legislation that would relieve them of the obligation, but all to no purpose. 



382 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

They all had to pay for the stock subscribed. Disappointed but determined to 
have a railroad, the leading men of the village of Potsdam set to work to build 
a branch from their village to Racketville, now Norwood. Mr. C. W. Leete 
hands me a copy of the St. Lawrence Mercury of December 4, 1850, printed 
at Potsdam, W. H. Wallace, editor and proprietor. In this paper is a report 
by T. J. Carter, engineer, who had surveyed two routes, one going down on the 
east bank of the river to Union Mills (where Paper Company now is) and thence 
bearing east. The other started on the lands of D. L. Clarkson on the east 
side of Market Street, bearing east and crossing the Fuller road. This was 
called the east line, and its estimated cost of completion was §60,017, and that 
of the former or west line was ^57,716. A public meeting was held in the 
town hall, November 30, 1850, at which Hon. Noble S. Elderkin was chair- 
man and H. H. Peck, secretary. Speeches were made by Messrs. H. L. 
Knowles, E. W. Plumb, Gardner Cox, William H. Wallace, Judge Allen and 
W. A. Dart. A committee of nine was appointed, consisting of H. L. 
Knowles, W. A. Dart, W. M. Hitchcock, J. H. Sanford, N. Parmeter, Jr., 
Gardner Cox, Samuel Partridge, W. W. Goulding and H. H. Peck, to organ- 
ize a company, open books for subscription to stock and go ahead with the 
work. They did so, but were unable to raise the necessary money and so turned 
their attention to getting the road reaching Watertown extended to Potsdam. 
The road from Rome to Watertown was then in operation or nearly so. This 
road of course wished to connect with the Northern road, otherwise they could 
not have secured its construction. 

On April 7, 1852, an act was passed authorizing the construction of the 
road when §5,000 per mile should be subscribed. The business men of Potsdam 
and Canton subscribed not only liberally but heavily for the stock, in order to 
make up the amount required. Among the heavy subscribers remembered by 
Mr. Leete were Augustus Fling, Joseph H. Sanford, Zenas Clark and W. W. 
Goulding, some or all of whom took as high as §10,000, more than they could 
afford to bear, hoping and expecting their neighbors would take some of it off 
their hands. In October, 1852, §750,000 was subscribed and the directors 
contracted with Phelps, Matoon and Barnes of Springfield, Mass., to build the 
road. It was to be completed by July i, 1854. The directors from Potsdam 
were Zenas Clark, Samuel Partridge, Joseph H. Sanford and William W. 
Goulding. Zenas Clark, Esq., was made vice-president, and H. L. KLnowles, 
secretary. The road was not completed and put in operation, as Mr. Leete 
tells us, till 1856, and it was built from Watertown north by sections, that is to 
Evans Mills, then to Philadelphia, then to Gouverneur, then to De Kalb, except- 
ing that the road from Potsdam to Racketville was in operation before there was 
any road from Potsdam to De Kalb. The station at De Kalb was a little west of 
the present village, and there was a live hotel there called the Forest House. 
The people going that way had to drive for some six months from Potsdam to 
De Kalb. Mr. J. L. Brown's diary shows that the road was built from 
Potsdam first to Racketville and then to Canton. Great effort was made to have 
it completed to Canton in time for the fair held there September 17, 1856, but 
they only succeeded in getting it fit for cars to where the road crosses the high- 
way a mile east of Canton. As it was the people went over in vast numbers, 
using one passenger car and several platform and box cars, walking to Canton 
from the crossing. This was the first ride that many of them had ever taken 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 383 

on the cars. The first depot in Potsdam village stood south of the present one, 
nearer the river, and William L. Knowles was the first station agent. The 
present old depot building, I am told, is the same one that was built in 1856. 

Mr. Leete says further that the railroad company soon found that they 
must have more money, and so issued bonds and secured the same by a mortgage 
on the road from Watertown to Potsdam Junction called the Potsdam and 
Watertown Railroad. Money was not as plenty then as now, and in order to 
sell the bonds the Rome and Watertown road guaranteed their payment. A 
broker in New York City intrusted with the sale of some of the bonds got into 
trouble and failed to turn over the proceeds. The loss of these fiinds hampered 
the road and with some other things brought it into discredit. A judgment was 
obtained by a creditor against the road and the entire road sold, subject to the 
bonds. The Rome and Watertown road was the purchaser at this sale. It soon 
after reorganized itself under the name of the Rome, Watertown and Ogdens- 
burg Railroad and built the branch from De Kalb Junction to Ogdensburg. The 
sale on execution or possibly a foreclosure of the mortgage wiped out the stock 
which the people had taken and paid for. Mr. Leete still has §2,500 of that 
stock. A considerable amount of it was held in this village, all of which was a 
direct loss. However, Mr. Leete says the people sufl^ered it with but little 
murmuring, nothing like what there was over the location of the Northern 
road. They had at last secured a railroad and they were content. — Ed.] 

July 4. Deacon Warner and Mr. Wood, our minister, called. Paid D. 
E. Kent, trustee of school district No. 6, Mr. Short's tax. 

6th. Sunday, children at meeting. Mr. Ashman preached. George 
Covey here, plays well on the flute. 

9th. Young people at S. Abbott's. G. Covey returns here. 

loth. Railroad meeting at Malone. Marion and Beatrice here. 

16th. Peddlers are plenty. John gone to Malone. Commenced haying. 

23d. Sent §84 to Justus Smith. He returns $\ as spurious. I received 
it of Thomas Clark. 

26th. Haying these days. Asahel bought me a pair of pantaloons. 

31st. Clarinda rode with Asahel to A. Jenne's. Aaron continues poorly. 

August I . G. H. Covey and wife here. Severe rainstorm. 

3d. Sunday, Charlotte and Edna at meeting, attend Sunday-school. 

6th. Charlotte, my little granddaughter not eight years old, has spun to- 
day a small skein of yarn for the first. 

8th. Children at Harriet's school. Marion and Aunt Orpha here. 

loth. Sunday, children at meeting. Growing time. 

14th. Railroad meeting and books open for subscription in the village. J. 
Sanford and sister called. 

19th. Boys pulled flax. Orlin Peck cradled oats. 

28th. John gone to Potsdam school. Shot five black and gray squirrels 
near the large elm at the other place. 

30th. Fires in all directions. Been to E. Jenne's. Mr. Wilkinson is a 
sick mdn. Shot four black and gray squirrels. 

September i. Killed six black and gray squirrels. Old Mrs. Chittenden 
is sick. A. Jenne fails. Shot two squirrels. 

5th. Old Mrs. Disher is dead and buried. Our little Frances is one of 
the best babes in the world. 



384 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

1 2th. Severe frosts. Boys logging these days. 

1 7th. Harmon and his wife gone to Norfolk. Mr. Woodruff here with 
gravestone. 

19th. Mr. Woodruff is setting the gravestone. It is for Mrs. Risdon, 
and cost J540. Harmon let him have a colt at §30 and is to pay gio more in 
grain. A deer came into the dooryard and escaped. 

24th. Received a budget of contracts from Mr. Chipman. L. Sylvester 
with thrashing machine this fall. 

October 3. Chittenden and Brush have new goods coming. Walk out 
in the fields with the children, I enjoy them. 

5th. Sunday, R. Post will leave for the west part of the state soon. He 
now lives in Norfolk. 

8th. Clarinda gone to East Village. Asahel sent me a powder flask. 
Been with the children to the other place. They had a frolic in the woods. 

llth. Mrs. Smith, wife of Dr. Smith on the Turnpike, died very sud- 
denly. Clarinda and Mary have gone there. She leaves a babe of four weeks. 

1 2th. Sunday, the family mostly at the funeral of Mrs. Smith. 

13th. C. S. Chittenden driving cattle to market. John is tending store 
for George Brush. 

14th. J. Sanford, Esq., was lately married to a second wife. He has a 
social party at his house this evening. Harmon, Mary and Clarinda there. 

1 5th. Clarinda and Harriet spinning, Mary weaving, and Lucy at 
housework. 

1 6th. Mrs. Brooks and daughter-in-law here. Been to Mr. Crouch's. 

17th. Been with Charlotte and Edna to Orlin Peck's. 

1 8th. Been to my slash, three miles south, where I have not been before 
in four years 

20th. Forest leaves are off. Feed cows on corn stalks. 

2 1st. Light snow. John and Lucy at Stockholm. Myself splitting wood. 
23 d. Old Mr. Chittenden here. Been to East Village with regard to road. 
24th. Been over to village as witness in settling the site of the road for 

East Village to Mr. Dewey's. 

25th. Been to see old Mr. Chittenden at Mrs. Crouch's. Let Harmon 
have a pair of thick boots at ^2. 

28th. Harmon surveying for J. Sanford, Esq. I did the casting and 
wrote the survey. Paid David Witherell $3.50 for cloth which I had of him 
nearly three years ago. Lucy returns, been gone a week. 

29th. John out with gun. Harmon collecting grain for use of his thrash- 
ing machine. 

30th. Mr. Rasey called, was glad to see him, an old neighbor. Women 
dipping candles. Harmon and Clarinda watched with A. Jenne. 

November 4. Election day. A. Jenne is dead. Have a pair new boots. 

Jth. Been with John into the south woods to Baldwin's sawmill. 

6th. The family at flineral of Aaron Jenne, a young man of 37 years. 

loth. Harmon attending the thrashing machine. Stable the cows now. 

13th. Harmon gone to Brasher. John in the woods hunting deer. 

I 5th. Several deer have been killed on this snow. I wish I could go out. 

17 th. Josiah Smith has fever and ague, is sick enough. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 385 

20th. J. Sanford's children here with mine in the evening. Stormed, so 
stayed all night. 

2 I St. Surveyed to find centre of the west road. 

2zd. Surveyed my O. B. Moon's farm. 

[The diary is missing from this date to February 1, 1846. — Ed.] 

The Year J846 — Baptism of his Grandchildren — County growing in Wealth — 
Eclipse of Sun April 25 — William Kent moves to Stockholm — Circus 
at East Village — License or no License the Question — Death of Thaddeus 
Laughlin June 23, came to Town in J 804 — Show at the Village — Judge 
Sanford in Constitutional Conviintion — Has Spurious Bill on Albany Ex- 
change Bank — Marriage of Harriet Janet Sheals to Charles P. Robinson — 
Whigs firing Cannon at Parishville. 

February 2. Mrs. Abbott gone home. Harriet Abbott here. 

3d. Harmon pays me ^20 in Canada bills. Isaac Snell pays Gideon 
Sprague g5 for me. 

5th. Clarinda, Harriet, John and N. Crouch gone to Malone. Harriet 
Abbott keeps house for me. [Mrs. Adsit of Perry, Ohio. — Ed.] 

6th. Thrashing and cleaning wheat. Cutting saw logs. The children 
return from Malone. 

7th. Old Mr. Laughlin lingers along, requires a good deal of waiting on. 

8th. Sunday, Clarinda and Harriet Abbott gone to Asahel's. 

loth. Julius Peck makes payment on land contracted to Abina Jones. 

14th. Clarinda and Mary gone home with Harriet Abbott. Making out 
Dr. Sprague's account since February, 18 I 7. [Harriet Abbott married a Mr. 
Adsit and is now living at Perry, Ohio. — Ed.] 

15th. No one at meeting. Mr. Balch, the peddler, here. 

16th. J. Sanford, Jr., and sister here in evening with their music. [He 
.did play a flute a little in his younger days. The sister must have been Celestia, 
then thirteen years of age. So he used music in his wooing. — Ed.] 

17th. Walter Harriman, Ebcnezer Cudworth and Johnson Welch make 
payments on lands bought of Mr. Short. 

19th. Charlotte A., Edna M. and Frances E. Risdon, also Maria R., 
Beatrice M., Olive A., Anna Maud and Solomon E. Chittenden, my grand- 
children, were baptized this evening by Rev. E. Wood. Settled and balanced 
all accounts with Dr. Sprague. 

20th. Severe snowstorm. Harmon to Parishville mill. 

25th. Storm is over. Sent $135 to Justus Smith at Potsdam. 

26th. Mrs. Kent's mother here, good old lady. Asahel and children also. 

27th. Miss Adeline Peck here. Last day of select school. February has 
been the coldest of the three past months. The winter has been remarkable for 
mildness and at the same time good sleighing. 

March I . Sunday, John, Harriet and Adeline Peck at meeting. 

2d. Joel Goodell called. James Smith and Julius Peck make payments. 

4th. Harmon, Mary and Frances gone to Malone. John Neal pays 
;g274.z5 on the Reynolds farm, so called. 

5th. Paid Enos E. Wood, our minister, ^5. Clarinda at Asahel's. 

loth. George P. Dustin, Charles Blair and B. B. Newton make payments. 

I 2th. Wheat $\ per bushel. Knapp and a boy cutting stove wood. 

I 5th. Sunday, hear the cotton factory in Malone is burned. 



386 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

1 6th. Boys at the sugar place. No money market for grain. 

17th. Harmon gone to Montreal with oxen. Clarinda at the funeral of 
Mr. Ainsworth's child. Gave Asahel ^8 in shilling pieces, is to repay in bills. 

igth. Orin Oliver and P. C. Piper make payment. Stage on runners. 
Been with children to Mrs. Crouch's. 

azd. Sunday, John and the girls at meeting. Sap runs well. 

25th. Mary quilting. All hands at the sugaring. 

27th. Robins to be seen. Harmon goes to Montreal again. 

29th. Sunday, snow again. Orlin Peck married. 

31st. H. B. Sanford pays ^5 fee on purchase of the Lewis lot of seven- 
teen acres. Paid C. Woodworth, collector, J 1 8 on tax for building school- 
house ; ^16.42 still due. The winter has been remarkably moderate, over one 
hundred days in succession of good sleighing. Snow neither deep nor too thin. 
Hay is plenty, provisions oi all kinds sufficient for man and beast. The county 
s growing in wealth and population. 

April z. Clarinda at Asahel's. Lee Eastman's daughter here. 

4th. Wheelock at the flax. Boys at the sugar works. 

8th. Clarinda has a quilt on. Mrs. Culver and Mrs. Sprague here. 

loth. Been to Gossville with Harmon, surveying for Blair and others. 

13th. Ground covered with snow. Harmon gone to the graveyard with 
Mrs. Risdon's gravestone. 

15th. More snow. Sap runs. Some had gathered their tubs. 

17th. Another quilt on. It's Harriet's this time. 

1 8th. Asahel and Mary here all night. Have made 600 pounds sugar. 

Z2d. Frost, logging, ploughing. Fields quite green. 

25th. Viewed the eclipse of the sun, a sublime sight. Women making 
candles. Samuel Ainsworth dragging in wheat. 

26th. Sunday, John and Mary at meeting. J. Sanford and sister here. 

28th. Election day. Surveying a road on east line of Goss farm. 

29th. William Kent moved to Stockholm. Been straightening the road 
from the Turnpike to Orlin Peck's. 

30th. Maria Abbott, John Abbott, Mr. Wood and Joel Witherell here. 

May I. Pat Sheals buys a lot of thirty acres at $i^. per acre. 

3d. Sunday, cattle feed mostly on grass, lay out for the first time this spring. 

4th. Spent four days straightening road from Orlin Peck's north. 

6th. Women cleaning their houses. The men logging and ploughing. 

7th. Clarinda whitewashing, painting, etc. Paid balance of schoolhouse tax. 

8th. Surveying road near the Goss farm. Rained, got wet. 

Ilth. Snows, bad for sheep and cattle. Harriet commences her school 
in Ainsworth district to teach. 

14th. Harmon and John gone to Colton for plaster. Circus at the East 
Village. A few apple trees in blow. 

1 6th. Charlotte goes to school. Harmon at S. Abbott's drawing barn. 

1 8th. N. Crouch boards with Harmon. Severe frost. Ice in tubs 
three-quarters of an inch. Town meeting. License or no license for retaihng 
liquor is the main question. 

20th. Lightning struck several trees and set them on fire. Surveying lines 
for a road at the Fort. John and others fish in the mill pond. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 387 

rinda II D. Wa^eS' "" "^' '"" "^^'^^ ^"^^''= '° ^^^ Sheldon's. Cla- 

Ifd mL" ^ ^'^"f'!""^' Pf inda with me. Fair prospects for a railroad. 

win's mli po^d r™ 'h '"'k -^"f '^^'^'"2' P'^"'>' '' '^^ '" ^ald- 

plke.- Ed^ ^ ^ "^"' J"" ^'''^ °^ '^' Smith place on Turn- 

26th. At W. Stone's surveying. Clarinda with me. 

^ott XvVu f ^'' f'"^'[' T,'^ °*" P'^"=- Mrs. Lovel sick. 
30th. W. Sheals here from the lake. Boys planting 

June2_ Washed sheep. Esq. Heath is dead. Crouch is sick. 
3d Been wuh Harmon on the Sheldon road. Miss Frances burnt her 
arm. Clarinda watched with Mrs. Lovel. ^ ""ces ournt her 

4th. Surveying on west road. Clarinda with Asahel to Gossville. 

7tn. bunday, children and some others at meeting 

8th. Harmon surveying on middle road all day fSanford roadl 

9th Harmon on road east of Mr. Roburds's. Boys ploughing 

the A.i;;L Cir/ °" "^' '-''' "^™°"- ^^-^ ^ '°'- - ^^ «°y-- ^or 
1 2th. Been on road all day, John with me. Harmon to Potsdam. 
4th. Sunday very warm. Family at meeting. Mr. Crouch's hand is bad. 
15th The railroad people met in Boston on the nth and elected di- 
rectors. Directors met on the 1 2th. 

1 6th. Shearing sheep. I called to see Mr. Laughlin. He is failbg. 
!t" ^f" °" P=^kr°ad wath Harmon. Perkins and lady here. 
}' r^fi'i 4,'"^ ^^'y '' '^'^^"''^- "^™°" ^t sawmill. 
23d OJd Mr. Thaddeus Laughlin is dead, died in the night, 
this town He"" 'he fiineral of Mr. Laughlin, one of the first settlers of 
this tou n. He was a particular friend of mine and of the same age. We came 
to Hopkinton at the same time, i 804. 

26th. Surveyed for Mr. Jaquis. John with me. Also on the Jenne road. 

27th. Harmon and I finding the line ofthe Turnpike road 

30th. Joshua Cutler fails. People at work on the roads. Very warm 

July 2 Josiah Cutler is dead, been ailing two or three years. Thomas 

Meacham had nineteen pounds of pork of me for a pair of thm pumps at /z^TJ 

Remin^gtn h'JrT;- J 5Lmon.'^^"'^°" ^'°'°"^°"> ^"^' prorn^s^n.ly. iphl 

collection in L'rMn^;:. "'^'""' '" """^ ^""'"^ '" '^'^ ^°"-^ ^There is a 

h.^ J'^'r f""'^''' 'T ^'- ^""' ' meeting-house plot at the Fort. Clarinda 
had twenty-five cents, there is a show at the village 

be.inltin ^''" '""^ ^-^ ?°"''' '° J°^" S™""^'^ ^"^ Harriet's school. Some 
begin haying, grass is good this season. 

9th Clarinda and Mary have gone to William Kent's at Stockholm. 

h.v. h ■ ^T°"' "'""' °''^= '"'^ ^""'^ Chittenden here to-day. I 

have been with them most of the time, pleasant children ^ 

15th. Marion and Beatrice at school with Charlotte and Edna. Dwi- 
nell s son works for Harmon. 

19th. Sunday, family at meeting. Preaching at southwest schoolhouse. 



388 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

2 1 St. Harmon only has himself, John Smith and Foster boy at haying. 
Labor is high. Harriet is sick and dismisses her school. 

23d. Judge Sanford is at home from the State Convention in Albany. 
[The convention mentioned was the State Constitutional Convention of 
1846, of which Judge Jonah Sanford was a member. — Ed. J 

26th. Most of the family at meeting. Harriet Sheals continues sick. 

28th. Mary and her little grandson here. Very poor hay weather. 

30th. English Smith at work for Harmon. Harriet continues unwell, 
has one faithful friend. 

31st. Showery weather continues. Kent and Sprague's daughters here, 
fine young women. 

August 2. Sunday, Harmon and Clarinda at meeting at the Fort. 

4th. Clarinda making cheese. Asahel has ten men haying. 

5th. Some are harvesting. Harmon has twenty acres of grass to cut. 

I I th. J. Winnie reaping wheat for me. Paid Dr. Witherell ^4 to balance. 

I 4th. Harmon has more help. Wallace, portrait painter, in village. 

I 5th. Several acres of Harmon's grass cut in the night by village boys. 

I 8th. Harmon will finish haying to-day. Harriet and Waity Kent go 
to Stockholm. I find I have a spurious bill on the Albany Exchange Bank. 

2 2d. H. Lawrence returns from fishing. A boy nine years old was 
killed by a falling tree on the Port Kent road lately. 

25th. Mr. Saunders and lady in from Vermont. J. G. Richardson 
makes payment on land. 

26th. Harmon preparing thrashing machine for business. L. Sylvester 
will tend it. 

27th. Harmon gone to Ogdensburg. It is amusing to walk out with 
my grandchildren. 

28th. Been to village with children. Attended church meeting. Our 
meeting-house to be altered and repaired, painted over, etc., this summer. 

29th. Children been to south woods school. I went to Mr. Gross's 
and other places. John returns from camp meeting at Brasher. 

31st. Mr. Webb and lady here. Received of Francis Risdon five cents 
for safe keeping. 

September I . Saunders and Webb return home. Paid five cents postage 
and six cents for pint whiskey. 

2d. L. Sylvester gone with thrashing machine. Clarinda at village. 

4th. David Leach pays me twenty dollars in Canada bills. If there be 
any discount on them he will allow it to me. Rode over to S. Abbott's with 
Charlotte and Edna. 

6th. Children at meeting. Very warm weather these days. Corn will 
ripen this year. 

8th. Maria Abbott here. Men all absent to-day. 

I Ith. Stephen Wescott and lady here. They have a fine boy. Clarinda 
and John at Parishville. 

I 2th. Harmon, Wescott and ladies go to Stockholm. John goes to mill 
at East Village. 

14th. Old Mr. Chittenden here, a good old man. John, Clarinda, 
Wescott and Sarah over to J. Sanford's in the evening. Maria Abbott at work 
for Clarinda sewing. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 389 

1 6th. A company is collecting here. Four p. m. married by the Rev. 
Enos Wood, Charles P. Robinson of Parishville to Miss Harriet Janet Sheals, 
daughter of Mrs. Asahel Kent. Wescott and lady continue here. 

17th. Young people rode to Parishville, except Maria and Harriet Abbott 
and Clarinda. 

1 8th Surveyed for Mr. Grove. Wescott and lady return home. 

zoth. Sunday, most of family at meeting. Gave Mr. Newton a pair of 
shoes and stockings worth one dollar. He was burned out lately. 

2 I St. Sent eighty-four dollars by Edwin Post to Justus Smith. Clarinda 
at Mr. Culver's. 

2 2d. Uncle S. Eastman and son here. Harmon building hogpen. 

24th. Mary and Clarinda at Miss Rockwell's funeral at Parishville. 

z6th. I surveyed a schoolhouse plot and road near Jared Dewey's. Lucy 
Tucker here. All pleased to see her. 

z8th. Clarinda and John go to Mr. Robinson's, Parishville. 

29th. John takes the stage this morning and will be gone some time. 

30th. The forests are changing. September has been a warm month. 

October 3. Been with Harmon to Parishville. Robinson and Harriet 
here, also Miss Abbott and Maria. Boys husking corn. We miss John. 

4th. Sunday, Lucy, Mary, Harmon and N. Crouch at meeting. 

6th. Clarinda at S. Abbott's. Lucy Tucker here yet, had a sister who 
called on her. There is something not right. Lucy has gone to Malone on 
foot. Her sister continues here, is quite disconsolate, will return to-morrow also. 

7th. Mary Chittenden was thirty-one years old September 14. 

loth. Ansel Smith here. Michael Gillen makes payment on Short's land. 

12th. Sent eighty-seven dollars by Josiah Smith to Justus Smith. 

13th. Harmon and S. Abbott gone to view southeast quarter ofRiversdale 
as regards quality o( land, timber, etc. Clarinda and Harriet Abbott quilting. 

14th. Rode with Nelson Crouch to the Fort. Cutler and Ainsworth at 
potatoes for Harmon. 

17th. Snows merrily. Boys husking corn. Bad time. 

19th. A hard freeze. Mr. Grow had of me a coat, pantaloons, and an 
old vest worth perhaps four dollars and a half and is to pay for them in labor. 

2 1 St. Eastman and lady here. I hear that Mr. Thompson of Malone, a 
popular man, is dead. 

23d. Had cake of soap of Mr. Culver, twenty-five cents. Clarinda 
had twenty-five cents of me. H. Corwin pays two dollars for use of sugar trees. 

25th. Sunday, family most at meeting. Robinson and lady here. 

27th. Harmon at Parishville mill. N. Crouch does the chores. 

30th. Asahel returns from New York. My health is miserable this fall. 

31st. Ground hard frozen. Many potatoes not dug yet. Grandmamma 
Nichols is with Harmon, probably will remain awhile. Good old lady, aged 
about eighty-seven. [She was the grandmother of Harmon Risdon's wife. — Ed.] 

November l . Harmon, Clarinda and Charlotte at meeting. 

3d. Election day. Harmon and boys finished potatoes. 

6th. Mr. Gillen at stove wood for me. Mr. Richardson doing off cham- 
ber for Harmon. Harmon surveying Mr. Laughlin's home farm for him. 

9th. Cannons roar in the west, probably the Whigs have elected their 
governor, etc. Peddler here for the night. 



39° 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 



loth. Harmon at mill at East Village. Surveyed there for Mr. Sprague. 

13th. Clarinda, Charlotte and Edna gone to see Harriet at Parishville. 

14th. Harmon gone to Brasher. Crouch ploughing. Lathing chamber. 

)6th. Charlotte and Edna attended school in village. Their father car- 
ries them. No schoolhouse in our district. Rev. Wood made us a friendly visit. 

1 8th. Cannon roaring at Parishville. The Whigs are having a jollificauon. 

24th. Clarinda fencing mice from buttery. She and Crouch dressing 
fowls in evening. Very bad roads for stage. 

z6th. Thanksgiving Day. Family took supper with Harmon. There were 
Mr. Kent and wife, Newman and wife, Robinson and wife, N. Crouch and 
Knapp. Balch, the peddler, here. Harriet is with Clarinda at present. 

29th. Sunday, no one at meeting. That is not right. The horse, how- 
ever, is lame and the travelling very bad. 

30th. Clarinda finished her washing at nine a. m. Has now gone to 
assist her sister Mary. Rode with the children as far as the schoolhouse. The 
miller is badly hurt in his mill at Parishville. 

December i. Clarinda at Mrs. Kent's most of the day. Smith Morrill 
called, been absent thirty years. 

3d. Snow mostly off. I hear two feet of snow fell in south woods. 
Clarinda and Harriet quilting. 

4th. Hear that Mrs. S. Sanford is dead. Her death was something 
sudden. She leaves a large family. 

[I learn there was a Samuel Sanford living east of Parishville on the Turn- 
pike. I do not know that he was in any way related to Judge Sanford. This 
lady must have been his wife. — Ed.] 

6th. Mrs. Sanford is buried to-day, Sunday. Robinson and lady gone. 
Harmon, Clarinda and Emma Cutler have gone to the house. 

8th. Charlotte and Edna go to school at the village. 

9th. Clarinda at Mr. Kent's quilting. Myself alone. Frances calls often. 

loth. Clarinda at P. Mosher's. Sent Asahel forty-five dollars to pay taxes. 
Waity Kent up from Stockholm, Olive W. also. 

12th. Clarinda received a letter from John Sheals. He is teaching school 
near Cleveland, Ohio. 

14th. Clarinda had of me fifty cents to pay postage. W. M. Hitchcock 
of Potsdam writes me. 

I 7th. Very little snow. People using wagons. Crouch drawing mill logs. 

20th. Sunday, Harmon and Clarinda at meeting. N. Manley from 
Vermont at Mr. Kent's. 

22d. Jesse Moon and N. C. Crouch assisting Harmon kill hogs. Henry 
Post and his cousin here. 

Z4th. Clarinda gone with young people for a ride to St. Regis. 

25th. The young sleigh riders will not have a pleasant time, as it thaws. 
Christmas at Mr. Newman's. Robinson, lady and sister out. 

27th. Sunday, Harmon and wife at meeting, no others. 

29th. Harmon to Parishville. Asahel and King Chittenden called. 

31st. Harmon surveying for J. Sanford, Esq. Ellen Post with Clarinda. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 391 

The Year J847 — Mr. Risdon too unwell to Write — Four arrested for Thieving 
— Arrested one Perry — Clarinda marries Jonah Sanford, Jr., February 17 — 
Mr. Hopkins makes his Will — Death of Rufus Greene, also of Mrs. John 
Sheldon — Mr. Newman's Barn burns — His Sister Charlotte Pratt and 
Husband visit Him — Death of Mrs. Reuben Abbott — Birth of Carlton E. 
Sanford, December 3 J. 

January I. Asahel's children here, lively at play. My health is miserable- 

5th. Have taken powerful medicine. Have Iain in bed. Mary is here- 

7th. Old Mr. Chittenden and little Anna with us most of the day. 

loth. Sunday, Phila Baldwin is buried to-day. Robinson and lady here 
and family at meeting. Mr. Eggleston's son is dead. 

nth. Harmon and Clarinda at Mr. Eggleston's funeral. He was a fine 
young man, aged twenty-four. Called away suddenly. 

1 2th. Mr. Robinson and lady made us a visit. J. Brush, Mr. Kent, 
Mr. Wood and Abel Mosher called. 

14th. A mill burned in Lawrenceville a few nights since. The loss in 
flour and grain was considerable. Crouch gone to Lawrence for stoves. 

17th. Harmon and Clarinda at meeting. W. Eastman's child is dead. 

19th. Harmon rode off with Balch the peddler. Waity Kent called in 
awhile. The anniversary of the Bible and other societies is held this year and at 
this time in Hopkinton. I am confined and cannot attend. 

20th. Deacon Hurlburt, lady and daughter up from Stockholm. W. 
Sheals here from the Lake [Champlain] . 

2 1 St. Meetings continue. Harmon cleaning wheat. In afternoon and 
evening he and Clarinda at meeting. 

23d. Father is too unwell to write. (Clarinda.) 

[The entries from this date to August 1 are in several diflisrent hands, 
but mostly in that of his daughter Clarinda or son Harmon. His son-in-law, 
Asahel H. Chittenden, N. C. Crouch, and some others made entries. All were 
made at his request and some at his dictation. — Ei).] 

24th. Father still unwell. Dr. Sprague called. No one at meeting. 

26th. Father keeps to his bed. Hopkinton is likely to have a good rep- 
resentation in state prison. No less than four were taken lately for thieving. 
Mr. Foster is being tried to-day. 

27th. Father rode to Asahel's, took cold and feels poorly. 

February I. Father has a bad day. Dr. Sprague called, also Rev. E. 
Wood and lady. 

3d. David Leach pays §15 on land of Mr. Short. 

5th. Asahel and Mary here. Hear that Harriet Wescott is dead, sad 
news. Mr. and Mrs. Kent return fi-om Malone. 

6th. Sat up with father. He was so nervous he could not sleep. Maria 
Abbott came. (Clarinda.) 

7th. Father has good courage and thinks he will get well. I shaved him 
to-day. (A. H. C.) 

9th. Josiah Smith pays S5.56 and John Smith ^27. 44 on Mr. Short's 
account. The thieves broke jail Saturday night the 6th. A reward of ^25 is 
offered for them. 

loth. C. S. Chittenden and J. Witherell captured Perry, one of the es- 
caped prisoners. 



392 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

nth. Chittenden and Witherell gone to Canton with Perry. They re- 
ceived the bounty of J25. 

I 2th. The " Little Band" at A. Kent's. Mr. Risdon continues poorly. 

13th. Francis Parker pays J850 on land account. 

15th, Mr. Risdon some better. Mr. Abbott, Asahel and Mary here. 
Oxen and cows in good demand. 

1 6th. Town meeting. One hundred and ninety-six votes cast, much 
hard talk. C. S. Chittenden, supervisor ; E. Post, town clerk. 

17th. Clarinda married to Jonah Sanford, Jr., eight o'clock evening, by 
the Rev. Enos Wood. There were a number of welcome guests present. The 
evening passed off pleasantly. Asahel and family were liere. 

1 8th. Mr. and Mrs. Sanford left here for their Father Sanford's this 
morning with the expectation of meeting their young associates in the evening. 
Should have been one of the number had it not been that my mother arrived this 
morning from Vermont. Mr. Risdon has had a bad day, troubled with asthma. 
(Nelson C. Crouch.) 

igth. Mrs. Abbott gone home. Jonah and Clarinda at Parishville. 

21st. Jonah and Clarinda at meeting in Parishville. Mr. Risdon better. 

23d. Paid Maria Abbott ^2.20 for sewing. Ellen Post helped me some. 
Crouch is repairing his house, happy time for him. 

24th. I shall watch with Mr. Risdon to-night, he is too unwell to write. 
(Edwin Post.) 

25th. Clarinda has gone to her Father Sanford's. Gave her g 19.25. 

26th. Father not so well. Carried Grandmother Nichols home. Rev. 
R. Pettibone called to-day. Dr. Sprague and lady here. (E. H. R.) 

28th. Sunday, Dr. Sprague here. Operated upon father and gave him 
much relief. 

March 2. Dr. Parker called in for counsel with Dr. Sprague. They 
operated upon him again. Isaac R. Hopkins assists father in making his will. 

3d. Another painful operation. Seth Putnam pays J69.39 on account. 

4th. Dr. Sprague here twice to-day. Mr. Risdon very sick at the stom- 
ach from the effects of pills. 

14th. Clarinda gone to J. Sanford's this morning. Father about same. 

18th. Thomas Stone pays ;^;o and Martin Blair ^20 on land account. 

24th. Tapped sugar works. Mr. Risdon quite comfortable, put on his 
pantaloons this evening. Clarinda here. 

28th. Sunday, severe storm. People turn out to break roads. Clarinda 
and Jonah here. 

April 1 . Have a grandson born this morning. Father no better. 

6th. R. Wells pays for surveying the meeting-house lot at the Fort. Father 
has changed his room and feels well pleased. Mr. Rufus Greene died to-day, 
been sick about six years, endured a great deal of suffering. 

8th. Mr. Greene buried to-day. Making sugar. Mr. Risdon better. 

1 6th. Mrs. John Sheldon died this morning very suddenly. 

1 8th. Sunday, very cold. Mrs. Sheldon buried to-day, very affecting. 
She leaves a kind husband and eight children, with others, to mourn her loss. 
Charlotte returns after a two weeks' absence. 

20th. Mr. Risdon had on his clothes and played with the children. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 



393 



24th. W. Oliver paid $-j^ on the H. Dewey lot to save it. Quite a 
snowstorm. 

27th. Town meeting. The question is hcense or no license. There is 
a majority for license. 

May 7. Mr. Risdon rode out about a mile and walked about the yard. 

1 6th. Sunday, Harmon, Charlotte and Edna at meeting. 

23d. Mr. Risdon has been poorly for a week past. Farming these days. 

[The next entry is August I and in Mr. Risdon's hand. A blank space 
was left, but never filled in. — Ed.] 

August 1. Jesse Moon and Milton Snell here at work. My health is 
some better, but confined to the house. 

5th. Mr. Newman's barn was burned with contents of hay, etc., this 
morning. His loss is about ^200, no insurance. 

loth. Mr. Newman's loss operates severely on his and his wife's mind. 
Mr. Kent has finished haying, Harmon nearly so. 

1 2th. People at work getting out timber for a barn for Mr. Newman. 
Jane is absent a few days. 

14th. Dr. Sprague's son Henry is dead. The doctor goes to Vermont. 

zoth. Been to Mr. Winnie's ; they are sick, the babe in particular. 

27th. Mr. Winnie's child dead. My health continues poorly. 

28th. Harmon and wife have gone to W. Kent's in Stockholm. News 
reaches us that Silas Wright is dead. [He died at Canton, August 27, 1847.] 

29th. Sunday, Winnie's child buried to-day. Mr. Burnap of Parishville 
preached, Mr. Wood being absent. 

September 4. Judge Sanford and lady, Webb and lady called. 

5th. Sunday, Clarinda here. Paid Charlotte and Edna eighty cents. 

loth. Brother Pratt and wife, my sister, here from Livingston County on 
a visit ; glad I am to see them. 

Ilth. Mr. Pratt walked to village and called on C. Foster, an old 
acquaintance. 

I 2th. Sunday, brother and sister at meeting. 

13th. Alanson Blair pays ^120. Brother Pratt and Harmon rode out. 

14th. Brother and sister at Asahel's, myself in afternoon, stayed all night. 

I 5th. Asahel and Mr. Pratt rode to East Village and down the river on 
the other side to the Fort. In afternoon brother Pratt, sister, Harmon and wife 
and myself at Judge Sanford's. Heard while there that Reuben Abbott's wife 
is dead, died very suddenly, leaving a babe a few days old. 

[This babe is Robert S. Abbott, now living at Perry, Lake County, Ohio. 
His aunt, Harriet Adsit, who cared for him on his mother's death, resides with 
him and is the sole survivor of the children of Samuel Abbott. She was born 
on the farm, soon after taken by Elisha Risdon on the Turnpike, September 20, 
1820. Her mind is bright and clear at eighty-one and has helped materially on 
several points in the editing of the diary. — Ed.] 

16th. A frost. A large flock of sheep left this morning. Brother Pratt 
and wife took the stage at ten o'clock for home. He was ill last night, not feel- 
_ ing just right when he left. 

17th. I am pensive and lonely ; been over to Mr. Winnie's and Mr. 
Crouch's. E. Post's children with me. 



394 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

28th. Harmon and wife gone to Malone. Frances is sicic. N. Good- 
now's ciiild is dead. 

30th. Harmon returns from Malone ; James Sheals, a cousin, with him. 

October 4. Rode to Judge Sanford's. William Kent and wife at his father's. 

5th. At Judge Sanford's with Clarinda. Much complaint of rotten potatoes. 

8th. James Sheals sick, doctor called in. Milton Snell at work with 
Harmon at apples. 

loth. Sunday, cold, stormy. James Sheals is a sick boy. 

13th. My health is miserable. Mary Wallis here. James Sheals is better. 

28th. Clarinda here cooking, etc. James Brown at work for Harmon. 

November 2. Election day. Jasper Brownell, Hiram Newton and S. 
Tucker took dinner. 

14th. Paid Lee Eastman ^13 on my note of g6o. Am confined to 
house pretty much. 

17th. Harmon gone to Massena. Mr. Robinson and lady here from 
Parishville. A shoemaker here at work. 

19th. Mr. Winnie had a pair ot pantaloons of me and one and one-half 
yards fulled cloth at $2.50. 

20th. Sold to Judson S. Shaw twenty-five acres for g;o in Short Tract, 
lot thirty-four. Lent gl to James Brown, a young man living with Harmon. 

24th. Ira Squire makes payment of ^10 on joint contract with Wallis and 
Squire. I am very nervous, my days and nights are shaded with gloom. In 
the morning I say, when will the day be gone, and at night, when will the 
morning come. 

December 10. Melissa Goodell and Ellen Post here sewing for Harmon. 
Emma Cutler, a fine young girl, boards with us and attends school. 

14th. Sold William G. Richardson twenty-five acres for §50. 

1 8th. Lent Josiah Smith gi I for a few days. Harmon surveying. 

20th. Received a letter from J. S. Chipman and J. Lenox. 

2 2d. A man in Lawrence was sent to jail the past week for abusing a 
little girl. Asahel is in Canton this week as a juror. 

24th. Sold Lyman Weeks one hundred acres lot number six, Lenox tract. 

31st. A son was born to-day to Clarinda and Jonah. [That son is now 
editing the diary. — Ed. J 

The Year J 848 — -Health continues poorly — Religious Meetings at the Village 
and in his Home — Shooting of Burr Seeley by Constable in the Village — 
A Full Account of the Affair — Death ot Onesimus Risdon, his Father — 
Lyman Page builds Schoolhouse on the Turnpike — The Tavern House 
in the Village burned May 5 — Rev. Enos Wood preaches one year for $370 — 
Death of Sally Abbott — Much Thieving — Death of Mrs. Seeley, a Pioneer 
— Jonah Santord, Jr., drives Cattle to Boston — Send large Sums of Money 
by I-efter — Death of Jonathan B. Abbott. 

January 10. Sold to John Chase one hundred acres, lot thirty-four. Short 
Tract, for g200. Eastman and Stevens pay ^50 for twenty-five acres in lot six, 
Lenox tract. Paid Lee Eastman ^5 on note. 

2 I St. Asa Squire will take ten acres in lot number three, Lenox Tract. 
Clarinda gets along poorly. I have a good deal of anxiety on her account. 
Her sister, Mary Chittenden, with her yestesday and to-day. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 



395 



24th. My health continues poor, but on the whole think it improves. 
David Leach makes payment of J5.75. 

26th. Wagons pass for business and pleasure the same as in summer. 
Mr. Smith of Stockholm here over night. Mr. Pulsifer works for Harmon. 

30th. Sunday, religious meetings in afternoon and evenings in the village 
and said to be very interesting. 

31st. Judge Sanford called, says Clarinda is more comfortable. Forty- 
four years to-day I left Vermont for Islington. The snow in the Chateaugay 
woods was then four feet deep and on the first of March it was five feet all over 
this country. 

February 2. Religious services held here in evening. Clarinda is better. 

3d. The trustees of the school district meet here to-day, making arrange- 
ments for building a schoolhouse 

7th. Mild weather, little snow. Mrs. Steambard (or Heambard) here 
making drawers for me. She is a sorrowful woman, driven from her family and 
little children by the licentious conduct of her husband. She loves her children. 

8th. Pope says, •' BHndness to the future is kindly given." Had I had 
in I 840 a full sense of the misery I was doomed to suffer for the seven suc- 
ceeding years, I must have sunk into despair and death. 

February 9. Sleighs more lively. Mr. Robinson and his children here. 

1 2th. Mrs. Risdon was buried three years since to-day. Mr. Kent 
and wife at Stockholm. 

14th. D. S. Fletcher pays $183 and Isaac Snell ^25 on Short's land. 

15th. Mary Chittenden and Clarinda Sanford here with their babes. 
Clarinda has a fine boy. Sold Clark Adams fifteen acres south of Judge Sanford's. 

17th. Rehgious meeting held here. Charlotte spent the evening at Lee 
Eastman's. Stephen Wescott, wife and son from Malone. Sarah appears as 
young as ever. 

19th. Harmon, Wescott, Webb and wives with each a babe gone to 
Mr. Robinson's. 

23d. Sent two hundred and forty-one dollars by Harmon to Justus Smith. 
Ellen Post sewing for me. 

24th. Great excitement in the village. A man is shot in the knee by 
a constable; his wound is bad. 

25th. There is a law trial in the village over the shooting of the man. 

26th. Paid Charlotte and Edna twenty-five cents each for favors done me. 

29th. Sold to S. S. Sanford thirty acres east of Mr. Newton's. The case 
of the man who was shot in the village is likely to make lucrative business for 
lawyers, sherifi^s and doctors. Who will foot the bills is to be yet known. 

March I. Judge Sanford and wife called. Mrs. S. made us a family 
visit. Our httle boy is quite worrisome, to his mother in particular. 

6th. The man who was shot in the knee February 23 fled from Canada, 
it is said, for forgery. He was pursued by sheriff^ and constables into Hopkinton 
and there taken. His wound is bad, and it is thought by his physicians that he 
must lose his limb if not his life. There are quite a number implicated in the 
riot, as it is called. Probably the case will be investigated. 

I ith. The mah's limb is taken off" to-day. His case causes a great deal 
of excitement, is in all the papers. 



396 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

[The shooting and arrest of Mr. Seeley probably caused more feeling among 
the people and divided them in factions or parties more sharply than anything 
else that ever happened in town. Briefly, the story, as I gather it from the law 
books, county clerk's office and elderly people with whom I have talked, is about 
as follows : It seems that Burr Seeley came into town from the east through 
Nicholville with a horse and sleigh and that he was followed by John Roberts 
and L. C. Wrisley of Chateaugay, and by Alonzo A. Greene, a constable of 
Nicholville, whom the former got to help them as they came along. Seeing or 
fearing that he would be overhauled, he turned in at Joseph Brush's and asked 
for a room where he could be by himself. Mr. Brush let him into a bedroom 
off the sitting room. Presently the officers came and demanded the stranger. 
Mr. Brush toyed with them a little, but seeing that " trouble was up," mo- 
tioned to the bedroom door. Mr. Roberts rushed into the room, closing the 
door behind him. Hearing nothing, Mr. Brush opened the door, and there 
the two men stood facing each other with drawn pistols. Mr. Brush was a little 
lame, but he made some very lively steps retreating. His curiosity was entirely 
satisfied, as he told Truman E. Post, who gives me this particular. A truce was 
arranged whereby he agreed to proceed to the village and surrender. Accord- 
ingly, he rode with one of the men to the village, carrying his pistol in his 
hand. Reaching a point near where Chittenden's store now stands, he had 
changed his mind, and jumping out bade them defiance. He had two pistols, 
and one of them was rigged out with a dirk, which still may be seen at the Chit- 
tenden store. With these, barking up and down the street, he held them all at 
bay. Messrs. Roberts and Wrisley reported that he had committed a murder in 
Montreal and that there was a reward for his arrest. Thus the people, who soon 
congregated in large numbers, thought they were face to face with a real mur- 
derer and became much excited. They circled about him, but he successfully 
stood them off with his guns. There are some who say his pistol was a cheap, 
rusty affair incapable of being fired. What the truth is in this respect I cannot 
say. At any rate, failing to capture him, a warrant was got of Isaac R. Hop- 
kins, Esq., justice, on the complaint of one Horatio A. Nelson. This was read 
to him and a command made to surrender, but he was as defiant as ever. The 
good people of Hopkinton felt insulted and enraged that a stranger chased into 
town should defy the law and bid defiance to their majesty. At last some one 
handed Mr. Greene a gun. Who did this is not known, so far as I can learn, 
with certainty. Several cried out to shoot him, but who they were is not known. 
Every one denied it pretty soon afterwards when they had cooled down. The 
constable did as he was bidden, shooting him in the knee, when he fell and gave 
up. As they were carrying him into the hotel the constable cried out, " He is 
eating my warrant." Back came the excited direction, " Choke him, damn 
him, till he gives it up," which he proceeded to do, rescuing the mandate of the 
law. The warrant was a hasty production and very defective. Afterwards they 
regretted they did not let him eat it, as it was thought that would have made a 
good warrant of it, removing it from criticism. Mr. Seeley was a stranger in 
these parts, knowing no one except the late Dr. John B. Nichols of Potsdam, for 
whom he sent. Mr. Nichols, who knew him very slightly, called on him as 
requested. After being shot he made known that he was a member of some se- 
cret order and took Isaac R. Hopkins into his confidence. To him he stated 
that he had been in the brokerage business in Montreal and had failed, that a 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 397 

reward was offered for his arrest, that he had rather die than be taken back there 
to lie in jail till he died, as he could never pay. 

As the diary states, his leg was amputated on March 11. Dr. Socrates 
N. Sherman of Ogdensburg came down to perform the operation, assisted by 
Dr. Gideon Sprague and possibly others. The feeling among the people had 
now become tense over the whole performance, and Dr. Sherman did not satisfy 
or mollify it in the least. As I am told he bitterly and vehemently abused and 
denounced every one who was present at the time of the shooting. The diary 
states that a trial was had, which was probably an examination, and before Isaac 
R. Hopkins, Esq., who issued the warrant. It was held in the old stone town 
house, and there was a large attendance of people. The attorneys on the hear- 
ing were William A. Dart, Henry L. Knowles and Judge Jonah Sanford. As 
I am advised no case was made, and Mr. Seeley was discharged. The matter 
culminated in a suit in the supreme court by Mr. Seeley against Alonzo A. 
Greene, Clark S. Chittenden, Asahel Chittenden, John Roberts, Artemus Kent 
and Lemuel C. Wrisley for damages for assault and battery and false imprison- 
ment. Messrs. James and Brown of Ogdensburg were Mr. Seeley's attorneys ; 
E. B. Smith for Wrisley, and William A. Dart for the other defendants. The 
case was tried at the June term of the court, 1849, beginning on Saturday and 
closing on Monday, Hon. Ira Harris, justice ; Edwin Dodge, county judge ; 
James C. Barter and Joseph C. Barnes, justices of sessions. The witnesses for 
Mr. Seeley were : Dr. Gideon Sprague, Isaac C. Snell, John Harran, Nathaniel 
Goodnow, Dr. Fayette P. Sprague, James C. Moore and Isaac Young. The 
witnesses for the defendants were : Thomas G. Howe, Carr Fortune, Thaddeus 
H. Laughlin, George Brush, Willard Knapp, Hiram B. Sheldon, Calvin Cutler 
and Timothy Gibson. At the close of the evidence, on motion, Mr. Seeley 
was nonsuited as to Artemus Kent. The jury brought in a verdict against the 
other five defendants for ^2,000 damages. It seems that it was the testimony 
of Mr. Isaac Young that carried the verdict. Mr. Clark S. Chittenden by his 
attorney made a motion at the special term held in Canton in August, 1 849, 
for a new trial on the ground of newly discovered evidence and the surprise of 
Mr. Young's testimony which, though plaintiff's witness, was not put in till 
the very last moment, which was granted. The decision on this motion may be 
found in 4 How. 265. An appeal from this order was taken by Mr. Seeley's 
attorneys, but the decision of the court below was not disturbed. It is reported 
in 10 Barb. Mr. John A. Harran says that the case was adjourned two or 
three times when Mr. Seeley died in Philadelphia, which ended the whole 
matter. A few years after this Mr. Clark S. Chittenden was a member of As- 
sembly, which put him on the "bench," so to speak. Judge Harris was a 
candidate for L/nited States senator, and he pleaded hard with Mr. Chittenden for 
his vote, but without avail. — Ed.] 

14th. Clarinda and her babe here, a fine boy ; Mrs. Pulsifer and babe 
also. Clarinda at Asahel's, Beatrice here. Last day of school. 

19th. Received a letter from my sister, Charlotte Pratt. My father, 
Onesimus Risdon, is dead, died the first day of March after a sickness of four 
or five weeks. I believe he was in his ninetieth year. My mind was prepared 
for the news, for I have been expecting to hear of his death for some years past. 
His advanced age and peaceful turn of mind leave no occasion for mourning, 
rather of rejoicing. However, ruminating through the mists of many years upon 



398 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

scenes and reminiscences in which he took a part, I could not, here in my soli- 
tude, restrain the falling tear. We all must die. My father and mother were 
about of the same age, married young, raised a family of thirteen to men and 
women grown. But five, however, now survive. My mother has been dead 
about thirty years. My father was a soldier in the Revolution, was at Ticon- 
deroga with Schuyler and also in the battle at Bennington and in other skirmishes. 
He drew a pension for a while, but lost it on account of the dishonesty of Ver- 
mont officials. 

[His father was a little over eighty-eight years of age, having been born 
February i8, 1760. He died at the home of his daughter Charlotte (Mrs. 
George Pratt) at Livonia, Livingston County, N. Y., where he had lived for 
some twenty years previous and is buried. Previous to this he had lived at 
Richmond, a few miles distant in Ontario County, where he conducted a black- 
smith business. He served two hundred and sixty-six days as a soldier in the 
War of the Revolution between July, 1777, and November, 1780, as I learn 
from the adjutant-general of the state of Vermont. — Ed.] 

zoth. Mr. Lyman Page of the East Village is building a schoolhouse for 
our district, brings the material finished as far as possible from his place. [I 
think this is the present building so long known as the red schoolhouse and where 
I attended select school in the fall, taught by Edna Risdon. — Ed.] 

23d. Emma Cutler, a fine young girl of seventeen, will continue with 
Harmon through the summer. He will milk fourteen cows. [She married 
John A. Harran and lives in Hopkinton village. Mr. Harran, a highly re- 
spected citizen, died suddenly in the summer of 190Z. — Ed.] 

25th. Have agreed to renew S. B. Merrill's contract, provided he pays 
all the back interest. 

z8th. For over seven years I have been in more or less distress, yet I do 
some business. The fields free of snow. The people at spring's work. 

April I . Paid Darwin Brooks my account in full. 

7th. Mr. Kent suffers fi-om rheumatism. Mrs. R. at Josiah Smith's. 

loth. Lucina Claflin and babe here. Made four hundred pounds of sugar. 

Ilth. Mrs. E. H. Risdon will take her liitle son to Massena Springs. 
His rash does not improve. He requires much attention. 

1 2th. Religious meetings are held here in the house every Wednesday 
evening. 

1 7th. My disease is of a rheumatic nature and settled in the breast and 
stomach. Am very nervous. 

19th. Mr. Winnie, a neighbor, poor and with considerable of a family, 
has lost his only cow. He will need assistance. 

zoth. Mrs. Art. Kent and Mrs. Goodnow here. Harmon at work on 
schoolhouse. 

2 1 St. Harmon, Mary and Bub, our little boy, gone to Massena Springs. 
Mary will remain there with him for a while. Jane Twitch, Ellen and Emma 
here, good company. 

26th. Paid to Roswell Laughlin ^5 for Rev. Enos Wood. 

27th. Raised our schoolhouse. Harmon and the children gone to 
Clarinda's. Women cleaning house. 

30th. Harmon at Massena. The prospect from my window to the 
northwest over Mr. Kent's fields into his woodland is very fine. There are 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 399 

beautiful elms, maples and basswood of great growth, but there is one gigantic 
elm, more powerful and majestic than the others. It has stood there while 
ages and ages of the human family have passed away. And still it lives and 
grows and may for ages to come. [I do not wonder that great trees grew on 
that soil, but the trees which so enraptured him have, like the men and women 
who admired them, passed away. The field he saw is now a fine meadow. 
— Ed.] 

May 3. Harmon returns from Massena. Clarinda with me to-day. 
Warm, no fire in my room. 

5th. The tavern house in the village was burned down this morning. 
How Mr. C. S. Chittenden should be so highly favored as to save his build- 
ings is almost a miracle. 

7th. Harmon and two eldest daughters, Charlotte and Edna, at meeting. 

9th. Harmon to Massena after his wife and child. Farmers are all en- 
gaged at their work. Fields look fine. Mr. Seeley, the man whose leg was 
taken off in the winter past, rides out; is at Asahel Kent's this afternoon. The 
children are anxious to see their mother and little brother. 

loth. Harmon returns. Bub is much better, face smoother, is playfiil 
and at home. Harmon gone to Canton for lime. 

I 2th. Mr. and Mrs. Newman here, also Mr. Wilson the shoemaker. 

13th. Mr. Seeley, who was shot in the knee, has left Hopkinton. Good. 
Harmon pays his school tax by work on the new schoolhouse. 

1 5th. Eliphalet Brush called in awhile. Currant, cherry and plum 
trees are in blow. Had one of my severe turns. 

1 8th. Mrs. R. and her mother gone to see Harriet. Our little boy 
walks about like a man. 

2 1 St. Sunday, Clarinda and Jonah with the little grandson here. They 
are very good, call often. 

Z2d. P. Mosher and lady called. Asahel did not do my business in New, 
York and I am much disappointed. 

23d. Children playful, Edna with a bell tied to her foot. Mr. Marsh, 
Parishville agent here. Emma with others cleaning new schoolhouse. [The 
child Edna is Mrs. George W. Crosley of Webster City, Iowa. — Ed.] 

24th. Maria Durfey and Maria Abbott called awhile. Roswell Laughlin 
called with a subscription for Rev. Enos Wood. I signed five dollars. He 
will preach one year for three hundred seventy dollars. 

26th. Mary Chittenden, Clarinda Sanford and their babes here. Olive 
Chittenden with the children sporting about, happy children. 

27th. Rode to Mr. Jennie's and to the village. E. Post raising a building. 

z8th. Sunday, Harmon, Emma and Mary at meeting. Sally, daughter 
of Seth Abbott, Esq., is buried to-day, aged about forty. Died in Potsdam. 
I taught her the alphabet in 18 10, forward little girl then. Jonah and Clarinda 
at the funeral, left their babe here. C. Foster has returned from Livonia. 

29th. My sister Charlotte sent me my father's walking cane by Mr. 
Foster. I am pleased to have it. 

30th. Harmon and Mary at village. Ellen here sewing. Pierce and 
son painting schoolhouse. 

June 2. John Smith confined with rheumatism. Friend Warner about 
raising a house. 



400 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

3d. Maria and Harriet Laughlin with Marian Chittenden here. 

;th. Rode with Frances. Harmon and others wash sheep. Lent Sophia 
Remington $3 to oblige her very much, she says she will repay it in one, two 
or three months. 

6th. Our school commences, Clarissa Witherell, teacher. Harmon sur- 
veying. Charlotte and Edna go to school. [The teacher is the widow of 
Larned Warner. — Ed.] 

loth. John Smith suffers much with rheumatism, can't move. Harmon 
surveying in Gossville. 

I Ith. Sunday, the Methodists hold quarterly meeting at the Fort to-day. 
Edna, Frances, James, Clarinda and Jonah with their babe here. 

14th. Sophia Remington and Ellen Post continue sewing for Mrs. R. 
The former paid me twenty-five cents on recent loan. 

17th. Joel and Nelson Witherell and Nelson Crouch here shearing sheep. 
Mrs. Winnie assisted in picking wool. 

19th. Mr. Foster will take letter to brother Joel in Ohio, sister Pratt in 
Livonia, New York. The people are after a rogue. It seems a store was 
broken open at East Village and goods taken. 

20th. Harmon and Mary assisting in cleaning meeting-house. The 
people are after another rogue. A horse was stolen last night. 

2 1 St. Harmon and Asahel are building a house for Mr. Newman. E. 
Jennie has raised a house. Emma sick and gone home. 

24th. Miss Abel from Vermont is here and gone to see Harriet. 

25th. Sunday, James only at meeting. Mrs. Seeley, the widow of 
Eliakim Seeley, is dead. She was one of the first settlers ot this town. 

26th. Mrs. Seeley is buried to-day, age sixty-six. Harmon, Mary and 
Clarinda attended the funeral. Mr. and Mrs. Kent, Mr. and Mrs. Webb, 
Mrs. Perkins and Miss Abel here in afternoon, good company. 

July 4. Bad day for me, had the doctor. Young people riding out. 
Josiah Smith raised a small barn. 

8th. Rode home with Harmon from Asahel's, where I have been since 
the last of June. 

1 8th. Harmon commences haying. Cutler and Pulsifer at work for 
him. All crops look finely. 

20th. Clarinda here. Jonah Sanford, Jr., gone with cattle to Boston. 
Charlotte gave ten cents to a poor man. 

22d. Harmon surveying for Hamilton. Clarinda and Mary at Newman's. 

25th. Paid Ellen Post ^l for making four shirts. 

29th. Clarinda continues here with her babe, a fine boy indeed. 

31st. Clarinda at her home, her babe is unwell. My health improves. 

August 9. People are now harvesting grain. Harmon haying at the other 
place. Very sickly in Stockholm. Mr. Wheelock is dead. Several children 
have died. 

19th. Very wet time. But few have finished haying. Sent to James 
Lenox J225 in bills. I cut them into halves and sent one-half. 

20th. Sunday, the family mostly at meeting. Five o'clock meetings are 
held at our schoolhouse. 

22d. Sent Mr. Lenox the remaining half of the bank bills by mail. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 401 

24th. Took dinner to the work people. Asa Squire worked Mr. Lenox 
road tax. 

28th. Waity Kent called. Have been to see Clarinda. She is better. 

30th. Rode with Harmon to Gossville, Parishville, etc. 

September 2. R. L. Maitland of New York acknowledges the receipt of 
the two hundred and twenty-five dollars. I paid the postage, ten cents. Some 
farmers have grass to cut yet. 

3d. Sunday, Jonathan Abbott is dangerously sick. Harmon and Mary 
are over there. 

4th. Jonathan B., son of Samuel Abbott, is dead. He was about twenty- 
three, and a week ago was healthy and active and bid fair for a long life. [His 
son, E. W. Abbott, lives in Gouverneur, N. Y. — Ed.] 

5th. Mr. Abbott is buried to-day. A large concourse of people attended 
the funeral. A good many mourners. The family takes the death hard, the 
father in particular. 

6th. Rode over to see Clarinda. Judge Sanford has finished haying. 

8th. District school dismissed. I took cold on my trip. 

9th. Philinda Cutler is here. Her health is better. Her mother con- 
tinues spinning. The loom is set up. 

loth. Sunday, Harmon, Mary, Charlotte and Edna at meeting. Rob- 
inson and lady here. 

[No entries till October 8.] 

October 8. Sunday. Returned yesterday from Asahel's, where I have 
been for two weeks. In the time went with him to Stockholm, Brasher, etc. 
Paid the family seventy-five cents. 

9th. Human suffering seems to be my fate, now on the seventh year and 
have suffered severely to-day. When will it end ? Gave Charlotte and Edna 
twelve and one-half cents each, and Emma twenty-five cents for waiting on me 
when sick and unable to help myself. 

1 6th. Harmon, William Sheals and J. Winnie husking corn. Harmon 
cut his hand with an axe. 

27th. Moved my bed into the south room out of the noise of the family. 
[The book in which he kept the diary is fiiU at this point. The following en- 
tries are on the fly leaf and cover. If he kept a diary after this it is lost. — Ed.1 

The Year J849 — Deaths of Moses Kent, John Henderson and Thomas 
Meacham — A Short Story of the Latter's Life. 

May 12. Moses Kent died on the loth and buried to-day. Mr. John 
Henderson was buried the day after on Sunday. After years of suffering 
they now lie sweetly slumbering in their graves. Thomas Meacham, the noted 
hunter, died a few days previous. He also suffered severely, was neglected, 
died in his chair, no one to console him in his last moments. 

[Thomas Meacham was the noted hunter, probably the greatest that ever 
lived in the county. He died May 7, 1849, aged seventy-nine years. He 
kept an account of the animals killed by him, which is as follows: Wolves 
two hundred and fourteen, panthers seventy-seven, bears two hundred and ten, 
and deer two thousand five hundred and fifty. His traps were always out, and 
one day in examining them he found two wolves and a bear and shot another 
on the way. His bounty for these was ^185. An account of his life and 



402 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

record as a hunter was published by William H. Wallace, editor of the St. 
Lawrence Mercury, December 19, 1849, all copies of which were lost in the 
fire of 1 86 1. He died in a poor log cabin, situate up the Northwest Bay 
road on south side of river above Nicholville,^ just over the line in Franklin 
County. With all his success in hunting he got along but poorly, living a hard, 
lonely life. Zebina Coolidge was at his cabin several times while Meacham 
was living there, and he tells me the following story of the man as it was 
current in his boyhood days. He says that at first Meachum lived only a short 
distance up the Northwest Bay road; that after parting with his wife he went 
down to Essex County and returned with the wife of Eben Call; that she got 
on the horse behind Mr. Meacham, and as they started off Mr. Call came to 
the door with their child in his arms crying and entreating her not to leave him; 
that she called out to him, " Go back in the house and not stand there like a 
fool." When he reached Hopkinton the people were so indignant that he had 
to move up the road across East Brook in Franklin County, where he built a 
log house in the woods, in which they lived till the end, she dying a few years 
prior to his decease. After her death he lived there alone. While thus situ- 
ated Mr. Coolidge made his last call at the cabin. He was in the neighbor- 
hood fishing, and as the premises looked deserted he went into the cabin. After 
he had entered he still thought they were, but presently Mr. Meacham came 
feebly and totteringly out of what was called a bedroom to see who had entered. 
He was then gray and grizzled and just able to get about the house and yet all 
alone. From the diary it seems he thus died. 

He had one or two children by the wife and two or three by the second union. 
Stephen Meacham, " Uncle Stephen " as he was called, was his son by his mar- 
riage. He married and had, as I remember, five daughters and two sons. He 
went west, using an ox team and cart, and finally settled at or near Nauvoo, 111. 
His wife became converted to Mormonism and joined them. The Mormons 
took her and the children, discarding poor old Stephen, who found his way back 
to Hopkinton. A sketch of his disconsolate hfe is given on pages 16;, 166. — 
Ed.] 

October 20. I still remain and most of the time confined to my bed. 

25th. Paid Z. Culver ^1.08 for window blinds, at eighty-one cents each. 

November 6. Paid Clarinda Sanford, my daughter, J 3 for carpets. Paid 
Charlotte and Edna, my granddaughters, in the course of the year past, $2.68 
for their attention waiting on me, and Emma Cutler, the hired girl, seventy -five 
cents. 

Deer Killed by Elisha Risdon. 

[On the last page of one part of the diary is an account of the deer killed by 
him. I give it entire as written by him since many people will read it with in- 
terest and regard it as a creditable achievement. The record is as follows. — Ed.] 

The first deer I ever killed was at the Genesee in the year i 800, and no 
more till the year 1804. That year I killed two in the town of Hopkinton. 
The next season, 1805, killed ....... 4 

The next season, 1806, killed with a gun called the "Handsome Rifle," 

bought of Eli Squire and sold to him again .... 7 

In the year 1 807 killed but one, went to the Genesee country . . i 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 



403 



In the year 1809 killed with the long smooth bore that I bought of Hor- 
ace Train and sold to John Thomas ..... 

The next season, 1810, killed, same gun ..... 

The next season, l 8 1 1 , killed with a short rifle that I bought of Captain 
Hoard and sold to Joel Goodell ...... 

The next season, 181 2, killed, same gun ..... 

The next season, 181 3, killed with a Pennsylvania rifle that I bought of 
Elisha Brooks ......... 

The next season, 1 8 14, killed but one, was sick .... 

The next season, 181 5, killed fifty deer and one wolf 

The next season, 1816, killed ....... 

The next season, 18 17, killed ....... 

The next season, 1818, killed ....... 

The next season, 181 9, killed ....... 

With the last mentioned gun I killed two hundred and twenty deer. 

In the season of 1820 killed ....... 

Thirty of these were killed with a rifle I had of Hugh Kennedy. 

In the season of 1821 killed ....... 

In the season of 1822 killed ....... 

In the season of 1823 killed ....... 

In the season of 1824 killed ....... 

I have hunted two years now with a rifle I purchased of Mr. Fos- 
ter, the gunsmith at Parishville. I killed five deer also with the same 

gun in 1822, making in all with this gun sixty-six. 

In the season of 1825 killed 

In the season of 1826 killed 

In the season of 1827 killed 

In the season of 1828 killed 

In the season of 1830 killed 

In the season of 1831 killed 

In the season of 1832 killed 

In the season of 1833 killed 



13 
23 

25 
25 

23 

50 

4' 
jV 
32 
34 

37 

43 
34 
40 



S79 



CHAPTER XV. 

Town Officers from J 806 to 1902 — The Town of Parishville was 
taken from Hopkinton in I8I4 — The South Part of Chester- 
field, lyingf north of the River, was taken from Hopkinton 
in the Organization of the Town of Lawrence in 1828. 

Supervisors. 
l8o6, Roswell Hopkins; 1807, Benjamin W. Hopkins ; i8o8, Henry McLaugh- 
lin ; 1809, Roswell Hopkins; 1810, Benjamin W. Hopkins; 1811-1819, Roswell 
Hopkins; 1820-1822, Thads. Laughlin; 1823-1826, Jonah Sanford ; 1827-1829, 
Isaac R. Hopkins; 1830-1832, Joseph Durfey; 1833, Isaac R. Hopkins; 1834, 1835, 
Thads. Laughlin ; 1836, Phineas Durfey ; 1837, Eliakim Seeley ; 1838, Thads. 
Laughlin; 1839, Isaac R. Hopkins; 1840, Clark S. Chittenden; 1841, C. S. Chitten- 
den; 1842-1844, Elias Post; 1845, Gideon Sprague ; 1846, 1847, C. S. Chittenden j 
1848, 1849, Elias Post; 1850, 1851, C. S. Chittenden ; 1852, 1853, Joseph li. Durfey; 

1854, C. S. Chittenden ; 1855, Roswell Hopkins; 1856, 1857, Fayette P. Sprague; 
1858, 1859, Caleb Wright; i860, i86r, David F. Henderson ; 1862, 1863, George S. 
Wright; 1864, Ezra R. Sheldon; 1865, 1866, David F. Henderson; 1867, 1868, 
Franklin Kellogg; 1869-1873, Jonah Sanford; 1874, 1875, D. F. Henderson; 1876- 
1885, Jonah Sanford; 1886, 1887, J. S. Kellogg; 1888-1893, K. S. Chittenden; 
1894-1901, A. A. Atwood. 

As Mr. Hopkins was not eligible, a special town meeting was held March 13, 

1855, when Howard Z. Culver was elected supervisor. 

Mr. Culver having left town another special meeting was held September 15, 
1855, when Fayette P. .Sprague was elected supervisor. 

Town Clerks. 
1806, Henry McLaughlin ; 1807, Roswell Hopkins; 1808-1810, Benjamin W. 
Hopkins; i8ii, 1812, Sidney Dunton; 1813-1833, Elisha Risdon; 1834-1838, 
Elias Post; 1839-1845, Asahel H. Chittenden; 1S46, George Brush; 1847, Elias 
Post; 1848, 1849, Caleb Wright; 1850, 1851, Howard C. Culver; 1852, Fred I. 
Hopkins; 1853-1856, Nathaniel Goodnow ; 1857-1859, K. S. Chittenden; 1860- 
1868, V. A. Chittenden; 1869, S. E. Chittenden; 1 870-1 891, V. A. Chittenden; 
1892-1899, Jay H. Chittenden; igor, W. S. Clifford. 

Collectors. 
1806, Abraham Sheldon; 1807, Samuel Goodell; 1808, Gains Sheldon ; 1809, 
Caleb Wright; 1810, Nathaniel Rudd ; i8n, 1812, Samuel Eastman; 1813-1815, 
Willis Warriner; 1816, Artemus Kent; 1817, John K. Wead ; 1818, 1819, John 
Henderson; 1820, Joseph Brush; 1821-1823, Hosea Brooks; 1824, George P. 
Farrar; 1825-1829, Harry Palmer; 1830, Homer, Wright ; 1 831, Elias Post; 1832, 
Harry Palmer; 1833, 1834, Elias Post ; 1835, Asa Durrell ; 1836, Asahel H. Chit- 
tenden; 1837, Roswell H. Eastman; 1838, 1839, Philo Abbott; 1840, Asa Durrell; 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 405 

1841-1843, Fred P. Sprague ; 1844-1852, Ezra R. Sheldon j 1853, George A. Brush ; 
1854, George Rockwood, 1855, Milo Adams; 1856, John A. Harran ; 1857, George 
Rockwoood ; 1858, William A. Sheals ; 1859, Daniel Landon ; i860, James N. 
Fleming; 1861, L. D. Atwood; 1862, Rollin O. Sanford; 1863, H. H. Sheldon; 
1864, J. H. Macomber; 1865, F. W. Davis; 1866, Daniel Landon; 1867, Heman S. 
Rockwood; 186S, 1869, David Post; 1870, D. F. Hamilton; 1871, William A. 
Sheals; 1872, H. H. Sheldon; 1873, Wallace Kimpton ; 1874, M. D. Quinn ; 1875, 
E. A. Dove; 1876, Arthur Flanders; 1877, Daniel Landon; 1878, 1879, William 
Chaffee; 1880, Charles Hodgkins ; 1881-1884, Luman Chandler; 1885-1889, Ed- 
mund E. Roberts; 1890-1894, John F. Lindsay; 1895, J. Mark Harran; 1896- 
1898, George T. Smith ; 1899, G. A. Downey; 1901, J. J. Livermore. 

The town officers elected in 1899, under the new biennial law, held their offices 
for two years. Those elected in 1901 were the officers for igo2. 

Assessors. 
1806, Amasa Blanchard, Jasper Armstrong, Reuben Post; 1807, Amasa Blan- 
chard, Henry McLaughlin, Phineas Durfey; i8o8, Amasa Blanchard, Jasper Arm- 
strong, Seth Abbott ; 1809, 1810, Amasa Blanchard, Henry McLaughlin, Seth 
Abbott; 1811, Amasa Blanchard, Benjamin W.Hopkins, Phineas Durfey; 1812, 
Amasa Blanchard, Jasper Armstrong, Daniel Hoar;* 1813, Amasa Blanchard, Ben- 
jamin W. Hopkins, Abijah Abbott ; 1814, Amasa Blanchard, Benjamin W. Hop- 
kins, Reuben Post; 181 5, Amasa Blanchard, Thads. Laughlin, Samuel Eastman; 
1816, James Trussell, Thads. Laughlin, Isaac R. Hopkins; 1817, Eliphalet Brush, 
Thads. Laughlin, Aaron Warner; 1818, Amasa Blanchard, Thads. Laughlin, Aaron 
Warner; 1819, Amasa Blanchard, Thads. Laughlin, Phineas Durfey; 1820, Eli- 
phalet Brush, Isaac R. Hopkins, Jonah Sanford; 1821, 1822, Eliphalet Brush, Isaac 
R. Hopkins, Aaron Warner; 1823, Simeon Bushnell, Isaac R. Hopkins, Aaron 
Warner; 1824, Myron G. Peck, Jacob Phelps, Joseph Durfey; 1825, Myron G. 
Peck, Isaac R. Hopkins, Joseph Durfey; 1826, Zephaniah Piatt, Isaac R. Hopkins, 
Joseph Durfey ; 1827, Zephaniah Piatt, Jonah Sanford, Joseph Durfey ; 1828, Cal- 
vin Convers, Eliphalet Brush, Philip Mosher ; 1829, Jacob Phelps, Eliphalet Brush, 
Aaron Warner; 1830, John Henderson, Phineas Durfey, Joseph Brush; 1831, Caleb 
Wright, Homer Wright, Jacob Phelps; 1832, Caleb Wright, Asa Durrell, Jacob 
Phelps ; 1833, C. S. Chittenden, Eliphalet Brush, Joseph Durfey ; 1834, Henry D, 
Laughlin, Phineas Durfey, Jonah Sanford ; 1835, Isaac R. Hopkins, Aaron Warnerj 
Jonah Sanford; 1836, Eliakim Seeley, Thads. Laughlin, Joseph Durfey; 1837 
Gideon Sprague, Philip Mosher, John Henderson ; 1838, Phineas Durfey, Isaac R 
Hopkins, Eliphalet Brush ; 1839, Seth Putnam, C. S. Chittenden, Eliphalet Brush 
1840, Seth Putnam, Isaac R.Hopkins, Aaron Warner ; 1841, Isaac R. Hopkins, 
Reuben Wells, Zelah Canfield; 1842, George Eggleston, Jonah Sanford, S. C 
Remington ; 1843, Aaron Warner, Cyrus Dwinell, C. S. Chittenden ; 1844, Zoraster 
Culver, F. Sweet, Frank Kellogg; 1845, Isaac R. Hopkins, John Henderson, Elias 
Post; 1846, Isaac R. Hopkins, one year; John Henderson, three years; John S. 
Roberts, two years; 1847, Safford Cady ; 1848, Nelson C. Crouch; 1849, Isaac R. 
Hopkins; 1850, James W. Parker; 1851, Jacob Phelps; 1852, Charles B. Weller ; 
1853, E. Harmon Risdon ; 1854, Caleb Miller; 1855, William E.Eastman; 1856, 
Myron H. Wait; 1857, Charles Faulkner; 1858, Jonah Sanford, Jr.; 1859, Dyer L. 

* Messrs. Hoar and Abbott resided in Cookham. Prior to this Mr. Hoar had changed his name 



4o6 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Merrill; i860, Joel Witherell; 1861, E. H. Risdon ; 1862, William E. Eastman; 
1863, John A. Harran ; 1864, G. R. Clark ; 1865, E. H. Risdon ; 1866, Joel Wither- 
ell ; 1867, J. B. Durfey ; 1868, George Smith; i865, Charles Sweat ; 1870, George 
Burt ; 1871, AUa West ; 1872, Charles Sweat ; 1873, Charles Benham ; 1874, R. H. 
Freeman; 1875, George S. Wright; 1876, Royal Lawrence; 1877, Charles Sweat; 
1878, rhilo A. Davis ; 1879, H. S. Haselton ; 1880, C. A. Sweat ; 1881, P. A. Davis ; 
1882, H. S. Haselton; 1883, S. E. Eastman; 1884, L. D. Atwood ; 1885, H. S. 
Haselton; 18S6, Charles Benham; 1887, L. D. Atwood; 18S8, Howard P. East- 
man; 1889, Charles Benham; 1890, L. D. Atwood; 1891, Howard P. Eastman; 
1892, Charles Benham; 1893, John Leach; 1894, IL S. Hazelton ; 1895, Morris 
Day ; 1896, Isaac G. Gurley ; 1897, A. A. Hawkins ; 1898, Charles Benham ; 1899, 
J. R. Gurley, two years ; E. J. Macomber, two years ; John Harper, one year ; 
1901, John Harper. 

Justices of the Peace. 

Roswell Hopkins, appointed March 5, 1805, by Governor Morgan Lewis ; Ros- 
well Hopkins, reappointtil April 8, 1808 ; Dr. Stephen Langworthy, appointed March 
2, 1809, by Governor 'i'ouipkins; Roswell Hopkins, appointed March 27, iSio, judge 
of the Court of Common Pleas ; Roswell Hopkins, Henry McLaughlin and Reuben 
Post, appointed March 6, 181 1, by Governor Tompkins; Joseph Merrill, appointed 
June 5, 1812; Stephen Langworthy, commissioned assistant justice Common Pleas, 
June 5, 1812; Isaac R. Hopkins, Abijah Abbott, Abijah Chandler and Amasa 
Blanchard, appointed April 2, 1813, by Governor Tompkins (Mr. Abbott lived in 
Cookham and Mr. Chandler in Chesterfield) ; Reuben Post and Seth Abbott, ap- 
pointed April 15, 181 5, by Governor Tompkins; Aaron Warner, appointed March 
21, i8i5; Jonah Sanford, Isaac R. Hopkins and Seth Abbott, appointed March 16, 
1818, by Governor De Witt Clinton ; Isaac R. Hopkins, appointed March 29, 1821 ; 
Jonah Sanford, appointed one of the judges of the county court, March 26, 1834, by 
Governor Marcy. 

1830, a vote for justice resulted as follows: Joseph Durfey received eighty- 
two votes, Alanson Hale sixty-one and Eliphalet Brush fifty-eight; 1 831, Isaac R. 
Hopkins eighty-two votes, S. C. Remington forty-four. Homer Wright and Asa 
Durrell forty-two each ; 1832, Eliphalet Brush sixty-three and Horace N. Branch 
forty-one ; 1833, Jonah Sanford, Artemus Kent ; 1834, Isaac R. Hopkins (Jonah San 
ford was appointed one of the judges of the county court March 26, 1834, by Gov 
ernor Marcy) ; 1835, Roswell Hopkins ; 1836, Zoraster Culver; 1837, Elias Post 
1838, Jonah Sanford, Isaac R. Hopkins, Gideon Sprague ; 1839, Roswell Hopkins 
1840, Clark S. Chittenden ; 1841, Seth Putnam, Jonah Sanford; 1842, I. R. Hopkins 
1843, Roswell Hopkins; 1844, C. S. Chittenden; 1845, Ellas Post; 1S46, I. R. Hop- 
kins, J.T.Gould; 1847, Franklin Kellogg; 1848, Roswell Hopkins; 1849, C. S 
Chittenden; 1850, Isaac R. Hopkins; 1851, Frank Kellogg, Nelson C. Crouch (va- 
cancy) ; 1852, Nelson C. Crouch ; 1853, Roswell Hopkins; 1854, Jonah Sanford, Jr, 
(vacancy), Ezra R. Sheldon ; 1855, J. B. Williams ; 1856, Roswell Hopkins ; 1857 
C. S. Chittenden, Frank Kellogg (vacancy) ; 1858, Ezra Sheldon, Loren Smith (va- 
cancy) ; 1859, D. F. Henderson ; i860, Loren Smith ; 1861, C. S. Chittenden ; 1862 
Franklin Kellogg; 1863, Jefferson Rowell ; 1864, David F. Henderson; 1865, C. S 
Chittenden ; 1866, Franklin Kellogg; 1867, Roswell Hopkins; 1868, G. R.Clark 
1869, C. S. Chittenden ; 1870, Franklin Kellogg ; 1871, J. II. Macomber ; 1872, Ros 
well Hopkins ; 1873, C. S. Chittenden ; 1874, F. W. Kellogg ; 1S75, Silas H. Sanford 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 407 

1876, Henry B.Sanford; 1877, John J. Shields ; 1878, Fayette N. Kellogg; 1879, 
George Smith ; i88o, George O. Merrill, J. S. Kellogg (vacancy) ; 1881, C. S. Chit- 
tenden ; 1882, J. S. Kellogg; 1883, George Smith, II. L. Iloyt (vacancy), C. H. Hodg- 
kins (vacancy) ; 1884, Luman Chandler; 1885, G. Rollin Clark (vacancy), L. D. At- 
wood ; 1886, Charles Hodgkins, PI. F. Hilliard (vacancy), L. D. Atwood (vacancy) ; 
1887, George Smith ; 1888, H. F. Hilliard, J. F. Lindsay ; 1889, Lorenzo D. Atwood, 
Emery P. Gale; 1890, C. H. Hodgkins, J. F. Lindsay; 1891, George Smith; 1892, 
H. F. Hilliard ; 1893, Isaac R. Hopkins ; 1894, C. H. Hodgkins ; 1895, John Leach ; 
1896, H. F. Hilliard, Henry Adams; 1897, Adelbert Smith, William Larabee ; 1898, 
Henry Wells, William Johnson; 1899, R. H. Higgenbotham, M. L. Clifford; 1901, 
John H. Leach, II. F. Hilliard, A. S. Smith. 

Commissioners of Schools. 

1813, Benjamin W. Hopkins, Amasa Blanchard, Samuel Eastman ;'i8i4, Amasa 
Blanchard, Benjamin W. Hopkins, Samuel Eastman; 1815, Abijah Chandler, Isaac 
R. Hopkins, Seth Abbott; 1816-1820, Eliphalet Brush, Isaac R. Hopkins, Seth 
Abbott ; 1821-1824, Isaac R. Hopkins, Seth Abbott, Eliphalet Brush ; 1825, Aaron 
Warner, Artemus Kent, Jacob Phelps; 1826, B. C. Dimick, Zoraster Culver, Jacob 
Phelps ; 1827, 1828, Zoraster Culver, Artemus Kent, Aaron Warner ; 1829, Zoraster 
Culver, Elias Post, Aaron Warner ; 1830-1832, Homer Wright, Caleb Wright, S. C. 
Remington ; 1833, Jacob Phelps, Caleb Wright, John Henderson ; 1834, Horace N. 
Branch, Zoraster Culver, Lee Eastman; 1835, Eliphalet Brush, Zoraster Culver, 
Elisha Risdon ; 1836, Zoraster Culver, Gideon Sprague, Lee Eastman; 1837, 
Zoraster Culver, Phineas Durfey, Russell .Squire; 1838, Zoraster Culver, Thads. 
Laughlin, Gideon Sprague; 1839, William S. Phelps, Artemus Kent, Philander 
Brown; 1840, William S. Phelps, Artemus Kent, John Sheldon; 1841, Artemus 
Kent, William S. Phelps, John Henderson; 1842, Samuel Abbott, Russell Squire, 
Frank Kellogg; 1843, Zoraster Culver, Russsell Squire, T. 11. Laughlin; 1844-1846, 
Jason Brush ; 1847-1850, Fayette P. Sprague ; 1852, Caleb Wright ; 1853, Fred H. 
Kent; 1854, Roswell Hopkins; 1856, Fred H. Kent. 

School Inspectors. 

1S13, Roswell Hopkins, Reuben Post, Eliphalet Brush, Abijah Chandler, Seth 
Abbott, Abijah Abbott; 1814, Eliphalet Brush, Gideon Sprague, Caleb Wright; 
181 5, Eliphalet Brush, Hiram S. Johnson, Abijah Chandler; 1816, Jonah Sanford, 
Caleb Wright, James^Pearse ; 1817, Thads. Laughlin, John K. Wead, James Trussell ; 
181S, Elisha Risdon, Artemus Kent, James Trussell ; i8i9,5Elisha Risdon, Thads. 
Laughlin, Henry C. Greene, Daniel Rockwell, Sylvanus C. Hersey, James Trussell ; 
1820, Elisha Risdon, Hosea Brooks, Elias Post ; 1821, Elisha Risdon, S. C. Reming- 
ton, Harry Wead; 1822, Thads. Laughlin Gideon Sprague, Isaac R. Hopkins; 
1823, 1824, Myron G. Peck, Gideon Sprague, Elias Post ; 1825, Gideon Sprague, 
Dan. Wright, Elias Post ; 1826, B. C. Dimick, Zoraster Culver, Jacob Phelps ; 1827, 
Myron G. Peck, Gideon Sprague, Elias Post; 1828, G. P. Farrar, Gideon Sprague, 
Elias Post; 1829, H. D. Laughlin, Gideon Sprague, Roswell Pettibone ; 1830, 
Gideon Shaw, H. D. Laughlin, D. S. Shaw; 1831-1835, Gideon Sprague, H. D. 
Laughlin, Elias Post ; 1836, Gideon Sprague, H. D. Laughlin, Russell Squire ; 1837, 
Philo Abbott, Frederick Sprague, Elias Post ; 1838, Elias Post, Isaac R. Hopkins, 
Gideon Sprague; 1839, Henry M. Witherell, Roswell Hopkins, Elijah H. Risdon; 
1840, Henry M. Witherell, Lucien Kent, Elijah H. Risdon; 1841, Henry M. With- 



4o8 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

erell, Seth R. Putuam, Lucien Kent; 1842, N. C. Crouch, H. F. Lawrence, Isaac R. 
Hopkins; 1843, N. C. Grouch, H. F. Lawrence; 1844, Jonah Sanford, George 
Eggleston ; 1845, Artemus Kent, H. N. Bickford, Roswell Hopkins ; 1846, Artemus 
Kent, L P. Lovel, Philip Mosher ; 1847, Aaron Warner, Russell Squire, Philip 
Mosher; 1848, Nathaniel Goodnow, William S. Phelps, Philip Mosher; 1849, 
1850, Aaron Warner, Russell Squire, Joel Goodell, Jr. ; 1851, Caleb Wright, Hiram 
B. Shelden, Joel Goodell, Jr.; 1852, Dyer L. Merrill, Nathaniel Goodnow, Joel 
Goodell, Jr.; 1853, D. F. Henderson, Russell Squire, Joel Goodell, Jr.; 1855, D. F. 
Henderson, John Harran, J. S. Cady ; 1856, Jesse Phelps, Israel Putnam, Joseph 
A. Brush ; 1857, Jonah Sanford, Jr., D. F. Henderson, William A. Sheals ; 1858, 
Russell Squire, Israel Putnam, William S. Phelps; 1859, George Smith, R. P. 
Abbott, Charles Weller; i860, G. R. Clark, Russell Squire, R. H. Freeman. 

Commissioners of Highways. 
l8o6, Abraham Sheldon, Reuben Post, Henry McLaughlin; 1807, Abijah 
Chandler, Seth Abbott, Benjamin W.Hopkins; 1808, Ephraim Martin, Abraham 
Sheldon, Jonas Harwood ; i8og, Samuel Goodell, Sydney Dunton, Phineas Durfey ; 
1810, Eli Roburds, Sydney Dunton, Samuel Eastman; 181 1, Samuel Goodell, Elia- 
kim Seeley, Jonas Harwood; 1812, James Trussell, Reuben Post, John Thomas; 
1813, Samuel Goodell, Joseph Merrill, Joel Hawkins; 1814, James Trussell, Eli- 
phalet Brush, Phineas Durfey ; 1815, James Trussell, Eliphalet Brush, Caleb Wright ; 
1816, Jonah Sanford, Eli Roburds, Abijah Chandler ; 1817, James Trussell, Joseph 
Brush, Phineas Durfey; 1818, James Trussell, Artemus Kent, Jonah Sanford; 18:9, 
Samuel Goodell, Isaac R. Hopkins, Samuel Eastman; 1820, James Trussell, Eli 
Roburds, Joseph Durfey; 1821, 1822, Joseph Durfey, Eli Roburds, Joseph Brush; 
1823, Horace Higgins, Jacob Phelps, Joseph Durfey; 1824, Horace Higgins, 
Thads. Laughlin, Asa Moon ; 1825, Eliphalet Brush, Thads. Laughlin, Phineas 
Durfey; 1826, Horace Higgins, Eliphalet Brush, Asa Moon; 1827, James Trus- 
sell, Eliphalet Brush, Phineas Durfey; 1828, George P. Farrar, Thads. Laughlin, 
Asa Moon ; 1829, Joseph Brush, Thads. Laughlin, Samuel Eastman; 1830, Ben- 
jamin Sanford, Anson Griswold, W. N. Gould ; 1831, Phineas Durfey, 
Anson Griswold, Aaron Warner; 1832, Phineas Durfey, C. S. Chittenden, 
Joseph Brush ; 1833, Phineas Durfey, Asa Durrell, Joseph Brush; 1834, Gideon 
Sprague, Abiel M. Hobart, Asa Moon ; 1835, C. S. Chittenden, Samuel Abbott, 
Gideon Sprague ; 1836, Philip Mosher, C. S. Chittenden, Samuel Abbott; 1837, 
Thads. Laughlin, Caleb Wright, Lee Eastman ; 1838, Gilbert H. Covey, Jonah San- 
ford, Asa Durrell; 1839, Stephen R. Witherell, John S. Roburds, Joel Gould; 1840, 
Eliphalet Brush, Joseph Brush, John Dwinell ; 1841, Roswell Hopkins, William M. 
Gould, Artemus Kent; 1842, Lee Eastman, H. II. Branch, Thads. Laughlin; 1843, 
Samuel Abbott, Frank Kellogg, Clark Adams ; 1844, C. Dwinell, Joseph B. Durfey, E. 
Harmon Risdon ; 1845, Jo^' Witherell, T. H. Laughlin, Russell Squire ; 1846, E. Har- 
mon Risdon ; 1847, Samuel Abbott ; 1849, J- ^- Durfey ; 1850, Joseph B. Durfey ; 1851, 
W. F. Warner; 1852, T. H. Laughlin ; 1853, Alonzo Parker ; 1854, Joseph A. Brush ; 
1855, Georges. Wright ; 1856, William Oliver; 1857, Joel Goodell, Jr. ; 1858, Lyman 
Oliver ; 1859, Joel Witherell ; i860, Joseph A. Brush ; 1861, William S. Howe ; 1862, 
Joseph B. Durfey ; 1863, Orville Parker ; 1S64-1866, Joseph 'A. Brush ; 1867, William 
Oliver; 1868, George S. Wright; 1869, E.H. Risdon; 1S70, 1871, Iva A. Brush ;iS72, 
Joel Goodell; 1873-1875, II. S. Ilaselton ; 1876, K. S. liedee ; 1877, Joseph Clifford; 
1878, 1879, Joseph A. Brush ; 1880, 1881, D. A. Moore ; 1882-1887, John A. Harran ; 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 409 

1888, H. S. Haselton; 1889-1891, John A. Harran; 1892, Arthur Flanders; 1893, 

John A. Harran; 1894, Martin Clifford; 1895, ; 1896, Martin L. Clifford; 

1897, ; 1898, John Leach ; 1899, Isaac R. Hopkins ; 1901, Arthur Flanders. 

Overseers of the Poor. 

1806, 1807, Amasa Blanchard, Seth Abbott; i8o8-i8io,AmasaBlanchard, Henry 
McLaughlin; 1811, Joseph Merrill, Seth Abbott; 1812, Eli Squire, Eli Roburds ; 
1813, Eli Squire, Jonathan M. Derby; 1814, 1815, Oliver Sheldon, Aaron Warner ; 
1816-1819, Jasper Armstrong, Aaron Warner ; 1820-1823, Eliphalet Brush, Aaron 
Warner; 1824, 1825, Jacob Phelps, Philip Mosher ; 1826, Jacob Phelps, Caleb 
Wright; 1827-1830, Joseph Brush, Caleb Wright ; 1831, 1832, Philip Mosher, Caleb 
Wright ; 1833, Artemus Kent, Aaron Warner ; 1834, Philip Mosher, Eliakim Seeley ; 
1835, Joseph Brush, Eliakim Seeley; 1836, John Henderson, Asa Moon; 1837, 
Zoraster Culver, Nathaniel Baldwin ; 1838, Aaron Warner, Asa Durrell ; 1839, Aaron 
Warner, Phineas Durfey ; 1840, Reuben Post, Joseph Howard; 1841, Nathaniel 
Goodnow ; 1842, C. Dwinell, Philip Mosher; 1843, Frank Kellogg, Clark Adams ; 
1844, William E. Eastman, Orin Andrews ; 1846-1848, Philander Brown ; 1849, Albert 
Sheldon; 1850, Elias Post. [The question as to whether there should be any dis. 
tinction in the distribution of alms among the poor being put to vote resulted in 
thirty votes in favor and nineteen against. Did I know the names of the nineteen 
I would gladly insert them. — Ed.] 1851, 1852, Joseph A. Brush; 1853, Albert 
Sheldon; 1854, Russell Squire; 1855, 1856, Thads. H. Laughlin ; 1857, George 
Smith; 1858, Elias Post; 1859, Joseph A. Brush; t86o, John S. Roberts; 1861, 
Cyrus Drake; 1862, Francis Davis; 1863, Dyer L. Merrill; 1864, 1865, Francis W. 
Davis; 1866, C. B. Foster; 1867, F. W. Davis; 1868, J. A. Harran; 1869, G. H. 
Brush; 1870, 1871, L. L. Greene; 1872-1874, John Sheldon; 1875-1894, F. W. 
Davis; 1895, 1896, V. A. Chittenden; 1897, Frank Kellogg; 1898, Charles H. 
Hodgkins; 1899-1901, A. E. Ober. 

Constables. 

1812, Tim Molthroup ; 1813, Ephraim Smith; 1813, 1814, Abijah Chandler ; 
1815, Silas Massey ; 1817, John Henderson; 1818, 1819, Thads. Laughlin; 1820, 
Hosea Brooks, Stephen Wead ; 1823, George P. Farrar ; 1824, Harry Palmer ; 1825, 
Otis Farrar ; 1826,1827, Calvin Converse; 1828, Anson Griswold ; 1829, Homer 
Wright; 1847, 1848, R. H. Laughlin ; 1849, Hiram Snell ; 1850, Mile Adams, E. M. 
Roberts, R. H. Laughlin, Joel Witherell; 1851, George Rockwood, William A. 
Sheals, Guy Griggs ; 1852, Ezra R. Sheldon, R. H. Laughlin, Thomas L. Howe ; 1853, 
James Fleming; 1854, James Fleming, George Brown, Porter Eggleston ; 1855, Milo 
Adams, Willard Knapp, C. Kimpton ; 1856, Benjamin Page, George W. Eggleston, 
H. D. Post ; 1857, James Fleming, T. E. Post, Thurman Roberts ; 1858, J. H. Mac- 
omber, Loren Smith, Edwin Witherell ; 1859, J. H. Macomber, William A. Sheals, 
H. E. Witherell; i860, R. O. Sanford, D. Landon, H. E. Witherell; 1861, J. H. 
Macomber, E. H. Witherell, RoUin O. Sanford ; 1862, Warren Ives, William D. 
Eastman, James Flaninger ; 1863, Edwin Witherell, William D.Eastman, James 
Flaninger ; 1S64, J. H. Macomber, C.W.Newton, Jefferson Rowell, J. C. Conlin, 
Jerry Meekham ; 1865, J. N. Fleming, Judson Freeman, John Conlin, N. N. Roberts, 
J. H. Macomber; 1866, James Hodgkins, Wallace Kimpton, Daniel Landon, N. N. 
Roberts, D. F. Hamilton; 1867, H. S. Rockwood, James Hodgkins, Darwin Hamil- 
ton, Wallace Kimpton, J. C. Conlin ; 1868, Wallace Kimpton, William A. Sheals, G. 



4IO 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 



R. Witherell, Norman Smith, David Post, J. E. Cheney ; 1869, Darwin Hamilton, 
David Post, Jefferson Rowell, Wallace Kimpton, William A. Sheals ; 1870, Wallace 
Kimpton, William A. Sheals, Charles Macomber, D. F. Hamilton, Orson J. Pelsue ; 
1871, D. F. Hamilton, Orson J. Pelsue, S. D. Linendoll, William Kimpton, William 
A. Sheals ; 1872, Wallace Kimpton, C. E. Macomber, D. Hamilton, O. J. Pelsue, 
Daniel Landon ; 1873, O. J. Pelsue, Wallace Kimpton, C. E. Macomber, Arthur 
Flanders, D. F. Hamilton ; 1874, Arthur Flanders, D. F. Hamilton, W. W. Kimpton, 
M. D. Quinn, C. E. Macomber ; 1875, Henry Shannon, Arthur Flanders, W. W. 
Kimpton, D. F. Hamilton, George Norton, E. A. Dove; 1876, Arthur Flanders, 
Charles Hodgkins, George Berdrow, I. R. Hopkins, Clark S. Cheney ; 1877, Hiram 
Ballon, W. A. Sheals, Arthur Flanders, E. C. Moses, D. F. Hamilton ; 1878, Daniel 
Landon, D. F. Hamilton, William A. Sheals, A. F. Hilliard, Hiram Ballon, Arthur 
Flanders; 1879, C. H. Hodgkins, Hiram Ballou, Arthur Flanders, W. A. Sheals, 
Hudson F. Hilliard; 1880, W. A. Sheals, Hudson F. Hilliard, D. F. Hamilton, C. 
H. Hodgkins ; 1881, D. F. Hamilton, C. H. Hodgkins, H. F. Hilliard, W. W. Lock- 
wood, William A. Sheals ; 1882, W. A. Sheals, D. F. Hamilton, Charles Hodkgins, 
Albert Hawkins, J. R. Rhodes ; 1883, W. A. Sheals, D. F. Hamilton, I. R. Hopkins, 
P. M. Kendrick, Laman Chandler; 1884, P. M. Kendrick, John Lindsley, L R. Hop- 
kins, D. F. Hamilton, Peter Votary, Jr. ; 1885, P. M. Kendrick, John Lindsley, Jr., 
George T. Smith, A. C. Smith, Wilbur Smith ; 1886, Jonn Lindsley, five years, Wil- 
bur Smith, four years, William A. Fletcher, three years, Albert Hawkins, two years, 
Martin Clifford, one year ; 1887, Martin Clifford ; 1888, M. L. Clifford, S. H. Mar- 
den, J. R. Parker, J. R. Rhodes ; 1889, M. L. Clifford, S. H. Marden, Cyrus Parker. 
J. R. Rhodes ; 1890, M. L. Clifford, William Fletcher, I. R. Parker. A. M. Lonkey ; 
1891, C. IL Kellogg, Willard Fletcher, Josiah R. Parker, A. M. Lonkey ; 1892, M. 
L. Clifford, P. R. Fitch, Josiah R. Parker, John Chaney ; 1893, E. J. Macomber, J. 
N. Harran, W. H. Storrs, L. E. Hoit; 1894, O. H. Holmes, J. R. Parker, W. A. 
Fletcher, W. H. Pierce; 1895, O.H.Holmes, J. R. Parker, E. P. Gale, Dustin 
Parker; i8g6, O. H. Holmes, J. R. Parker, Daniel McLane, Frank C. Locke; 1897, 
A. Jenne, J. R. Parker, Howard Pratt, Frank C. Locke; 1898, A. Jenne, J. R. 
Parker, Charles Getman, Alexander Clark ; 1899, E. D. Beede, J. R. Parker, Fred 
Seymore, W. Cudworth ; 1901, O. H. Holmes, J. R. Parker, Fred Seyniore, George 
T. Smith, Jr. 

Inspectors of Elections. 

1843, Jonah Sanford, George Eggleston, L R. Hopkins ; 1844, Jonah Sanford, 
George Eggleston ; 1845, Artemus Kent, H. ^' Bickford, Roswell Hopkins; 1846, 
Artemus Kent, L P. Lovel, Philip Mosher ; 1847, Aaron Warner, Russell Squire, 
Philip Mosher; 1848, Nathaniel Goodnow, Russell Squire; William S. Phelps; 
1849, Aaron Warner, Russell Squire, Joel Goodell, Jr.; 1850, Aaron Warner, Joel 
Goodell, Jr., Russell Squire ; 1851, Caleb Wright, Joel Goodell, Jr., Hiram B. Shel- 
don ; 1852, Dyer L. Merrill, Joel Goodell, Jr., Nathaniel Goodnow ; 1853, David F. 
Henderson, Joel Goodell, Jr., Russell Squire; 1855, David F. Henderson, John 
Harran, J. S. Cady ; 1856, Jesse Phelps, Israel Putnam, Joseph A. Brush; 1857, 
Jonah Sanford, Jr., D. F. Henderson, William A. Sheals; 1858, Russell Squire, 
William S. Phelps ; 1859, George Smith, Charles Weller; i860, G. R. Clark, Russell 
Squire; 1861, George H. Brush, George Smith, R. H. Freeman ; 1862, H. H. Shel- 
don, R. B. Squire, George Smith ; 1863, R. O. Sanford, Francis Davis, Amos Wells; 
1864, Charles Foster, Russell Squire, William A. Sheals; 1865, Jonah Sanford, Jr., 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 411 

W. A. Sheals, William Downey ; 1866, William Downey, W. A. Sheals, R. H. Free- 
man; 1867, William Downey, John A. Harran, F. E. Post; 1868, A. F. Parker, 
Charles Sweat, Israel A. Putnam ; 1869, J. II. Macomber, Sanford Kellogg, William 
Downey; 1S70, F. B. Winnie, William Downey, R. H. Freeman; 1871, Alanson 
Parker, Charles Hodgkins, John Ilarran ; 1872, Jefferson Rowell, Charles Hodgkins, 
Roswell Andrews ; 1873, Henry Sweat, Charles Hodgkins, Royal Lawrence; 1874, 
R. O. Clark, Charles Hodgkins, Royal Lawrence; 1875, Samuel E. Eastman, Charles 
Hodgkins, Royal Lawrence; 1876, Philo A. Davis, E. C. Moses, Thomas Conlin ; 
1877, S. W. Kellogg, C. A. Chittenden, Philo A. Davis ; 1878, Charles II. Hodgkins, 
Henry Wells, Philo A. Davis; 1879, Silas H. Sanford, I. R. Hopkins, Howard P. 
Eastman ; 1880, Silas II. Sanford, 1). F. Henderson, John A. Ilarran ; 1881, Silas H. 
Sanford, D. F. Henderson, I. R. Hopkins; 1882, Silas II. Sanford, Judson L. Smith, 
F. W. Hopkins ; 1883, Silas H. Sanford, Judson L. Smith, J. II. Macomber ; 1884, 
Howard P. Eastman, Charles Hodgkins, I. R. Hopkins ; 1885, Silas Sanford, Charles 
Hodgkins; 1886, H. S. Haselton, I. R. Hopkins, J. W. Pratt ; 1887, J. F. Lindsley, 
J. W. Pratt, I. R. Hopkins ; 1888, A. A. Atwood, C. H. Hodgkins, I. R. Hopkins; 
Dist. 2, H. C. Maynard, E. P. Gale, Addison Childs ; 1889, same for both districts ; 

1890, A. A. Atwood, R. W. Smith, John Leach; District No. 2, E. P. Gale, H. C. 
Maynard, Addison Child ; 1 891, A. A. Atwood, Charles Hodgkins, I. R. Hopkins; 

1891, No. 2, A. A. Atwood, R. W. Smith, John Leach ; 1892, A. E. Ober, Charles 
Hodgkins, J. Mark Harran ; No. 2, E. P. Gale, A. M. Lonkey, W. Pond. 

1893, Charles Hodgkins, A. A. Atwood, Philo Dain ; No. 2, Alvin Gale, W. 
F. Spear, W. A. Pond. 

1894, A. E. Ober, L. D. Atwood, P. A. Davis ; No. 2, E. P. Gale, Alvin Gale, 
W. A. Pond; No. 3, Silas II. Sanford, W. A. Fletcher, J. M. Harran. 

1895, No. I, H. S. Haselton, A. E. Ober, G. A. Downey, J. T. Flood; No. 2, 
W. A. Pond, E. P. Gale, II. C. Maynard, Thomas Rodwell ; No, 3, W. A. Fletcher, 
E. E. Smith, John Corwin, J. M. Ilarran. 

1896, No. I, C. II. Brush, A. E. Ober, G. A. Downey, N. N. Adsit ; No. 2, 
E. P. Gale, II. C. Maynard, N. A. Pond; No. 3, W. A. Fletcher, E. E. Smith, John 
A. Harran, I. R. Hopkins. 

1897, No. I, Charles H. Brush, Alex. Clark, G. A. Downey, E. J. Macomber; 
No. 2, D. C. Randall, E. P. Gale, W. A. Pond, Ira Dox ; No. 3, W. A. Fletcher, E. 
E. Smith, Thos. Conlin, J. A. Harran. 

189S, No. I, A. E. Ober, Josiah Smith, E. J. Macomber, A. Converse; No. 2, 

D. C. Randall, E. P. Gale, W. A. Pond, W. D. Pond ; No. 3, S. L. Warner. Earl 
Beede, Michael O'Leary, John Converse. 

1899, No. I, J. H. Smith, John Murphy; No. 2, E. P. Gale, Samuel Wells; 
No. 3, E. D. Beede, S. L. Warner. 

1901, No. I, C. H. Brush, A. J. Clute, E. J. Macomber, Clark Tharall; No. 3, 

E. E. Smith, S. L. Warner, John Corwin, Michael O'Leary. 

Overseers of Highways. 

1806, Henry McLaughlin, E. District; Eli Squire, W. District. 

1807, Samuel Eastman, Benjamin W. Hopkins, Abraham Sheldon Abijah 
Chandler. 

1808, Elisha Allen, Jared Dewey, Eli Squire, Oliver Sheldon, Gains Sheldon. 

1809, Abijah Chandler, Horace Train, Jasper Armstrong, Gains Sheldon, 
Samuel Eastman. 



41 z EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

1810, James Pearse, E. District; Horace Train, S. E. District; Jasper Arm- 
strong, Centre District ; Aaron Warner, W. District ; Joseph Merrill, N. W. District. 

1811,'Aaron Warner, Samuel Eastman, Charles Gibson, S. W. District; Joseph 
Merrill, Silas Massey, N. E. District ; Eliphalet Brush, Centre District ; Jonathan 
Pearse, E. District ; John Perry, S. E. District. 

1812, Silas Massey, Horace Train, Eliphalet Brush, Gaius Sheldon, Joseph 
Durfey, W. Disrrict ; Charles Gibson. 

1813, Abijah Chandler, Jr., E. District; Horace Train, B. W. Hopkins, 
•Eliakim Seeley, N. W. District; Samuel Eastman, Nathaniel Baldwin, S. W. 
District; William Miller, E. District in Cookham ; Luke Brown, W. District in 
Cookham ; George A. Flower, N. District in Cookham. 

1814, Abijah Chandler, Amasa Blanchard, S. E. District; Caleb Wright, 
Aaron Warner, Centre District; Gaius Sheldon, Nathaniel Baldwin, S. W. District. 

1815, Seth Putnam, S. W. District; Joseph Durfey, Gaius Sheldon, Aaron 
Warner, James Pearse, John Perry, S. E. District; Asahel Griffin, N. E. District. 

1816, Simeon Bushnell, E. District; William Brush, S. E. District; Samuel 
Eastman, Heman Sheldon, S. W. District ; Aaron Warner, Eliakim Seeley. 

i8t7, Silas Massey, Samuel Goodell, Thads. Laughlin, Gaius Sheldon, Thomas 
Remington, W. District ; Jonah Sanford, S. W. District. 

1818, Abijah Chandler, Anson Potter, S. E. District; Thads. Laughlin, 
Jasper Armstrong, Thomas Remington, Nathaniel Baldwin, S. W. District. 

:8i9, Lemuel Chandler, N. E. District; Horace Train, S. E. District; Phineas 
]3ur£ey, Henry C. Greene, S. W. District; Aaron Warner, Jasper Armstrong. 

1820, Abijah Chandler, N. E. District; Joseph Brush, S. E. District; Aaron 
Warner, Samuel Eastman, Jasper Armstrong, Seth Putnam, S. W. District. 

Every year is not given in full. When a new name appears in a district it is 
given to help locate people. 

1821, Asa Moon, S. W. District. 

1825, Zoraster Culver. 

1826, Phineas Durfey, i ; Seth Putnam, 2 ; Asahel Kent, 3 ; Philip Mosher, 4 ; 
T. H. Lyon, 5; Joseph Brush, 6; John Henderson, 7; Myron G. Peck, 8 ; B. C. 
Dimick, 9 ; Samuel M. Simonds, 10; S. C. Remington, 11 ; Hubel Dewey, 12. 

1828, Samuel Eastman, i ; Lee Eastman, 2 ; Elisha Risdon, 3; Artemus Kent, 
4 ; Eliakim Seeley, 5 ; James Thomas, 6 ; Joel Gould, 7 ; Jude Clark, 8 ; Danforth 
EUithorpe, 9 ; Isaac Trussell, 10 ; Gaius Sheldon, 11; William Oliver, 12; Alvan 
Plummer, 13; Jesse Derby, 14 ; Chauncey Chittenden, 15; William Gould, 16. 

1830, Phineas Durfey, i ; Nathaniel Baldwin, 2 ; Barney Moon, 3; Russell 
Squire, 4; William Phelps, 5 ; James Thomas, 6; John Henderson, 7; Hiram 
Saunders, 8 ; Hiram Mead, 9; Gaius Sheldon, 1 1 ; Isaac D. Stark, 12 ; N. Vaughn, 16. 

The town was redistricted into road districts in 1834 as follows; No. i, 
Phineas Durfey neighborhood. No. 2, Jonah Sanford locality. No. 3, Turnpike 
from village to pinnacle, near Isaac Snell's, and roads south. No. 4, from village 
west near Caleb Wright. No. 5, village to Laughlin's east line and north from Phi- 
lander Brown's, Chittenden's store corner to Stockholm. No. 6, from Laughlin's 
east line to centre of bridge over St. Regis River at East Village. No. 7, road from 
Joel Goodell's southeast to town line. ,No. 8, from bridge over Jakeway Brook to 
Joel Gould's and south to Joseph Howard's. No. 9, from Joel Goodell's southeast 
corner north to end of Mead road. No. 10, roads north from cemetery and by Isaac 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 413 

Austin. No. 11, from pinnacle near Isaac Snell's to Parish ville and by-roads. No. 
12, all the roads in that part of the town called Gossville. 

A Mr. Goss was an early settler and had quite a large tract southeast from 
Parishville in llopkinton up near Squire's mills, which section took the name 
of Gossville, as I learn from an old map. 

1835, Samuel Eastman, i; Nathaniel Baldwin, 2; Jesse Moon, 3; Philip 
Mosher, 4 ; Asa Durrell, 5 ; Eliphalet Brush, 6 ; Warren Blanchard, 7 ; Tyler Gove, 8 ; 
Richard Rose, 9 ; Harry Wead, 10 ; William P. Richardson, 11 ; W. M. Gould, 12. 

1837, Samuel Abbott, i ; Darius E. Kent, 2 ; John Leach, 3 ; Roswell Hopkins, 
4 ; Alonzo Seeley, 5 ; Hiram B. Sheldon, 6 ; Isaiah Blanchard, 7 ; William Dewey, 8 
(now living at Western, Minn. ) ; Jonathan Cole, g ; Isaac Austin, 10 ; Jasper Brow- 
nell, II ; Benjamin Bruce, 12. 

1838, William E. Eastman, i ; Ezra Sheldon, 2 ; Alfred S. Harran, 3; Warren 
F.^Warner, 4 ; Joseph P. Seeley, 5 ; Eliphalet Brush, 6; Hiram Blanchard, 7 ; Joseph 
Howard, 8; Hiram Mead, 9; Joel Witherell, 10; Ruel Hayden, 11 ; Walter E. W. 
Collins, 12. 

1840, Joseph B. Durfey, i (living at Parishville, N. Y.) ; Lee Eastman, 2 ; S. R. 
Witherell, 3 ; Reuben Wells, 4 ; William S. Phelps, 5; John Henderson, 6 ; P. N. 
Weller, 7 ; Curtis Howard, 8 ; William Moses, 9; Champin Reeve, 10 ; William H. 
Hamilton, 11 ; Edmund Hayden, 12; Asa Sheldon, 13. 

1841, W. E.Eastman, i; Nathaniel Baldwin, 2; Josiah Smith, 3; Aaron 
Warner, 4 ; T. H. Laughlin, 5 ; Hiram Mead, 6 ; A. Woodruff, 7 ; John Lindsay, 
8; Henry B. Sanford, 9; Isaac Austin, 10 ; Jasper Brownell, 11; Alanson Blair, 
12; Elijah Ober, 13'; J. P. Roberts, 14. 

1842, W. E. Eastman, i ; J. T. Gould, 2 ; Josiah Smith, 3 ; I. R. Hopkins, 4 ; 
F. P. Sprague, 5; Hiram Mead, 6; I. W. Blanchard, 7; O. Howard, 8; Joel 
Sweetland, 9; I. R. Foster, 10; Clark Adams, 11 ; W. M. Gould, 12 ; Asa Sheldon, 
13; Ezekiel Jenne, 14. 

1843, ^^' E. Eastman, i ; Orin Andrews, 2 ; Josiah Smith, 3; Aaron Warner, 
4; Cyrus Dwinell, 5 ; George Eggleston, 6; Charles Weller, 7; Orlando Howard, 
8; B. C. Eggleston, 9; William A. Nay, 10; Jasper Brownell, 11 ; Alanson Blair, 
12; Gains Sheldon, 13; Stephen Miller, 14; D. L. Merrill, 15; Lynus Lyman, 16; 
John Miller, 17 ; Joel Claflin, 18. 

D. L. Merrill first settled on crossroad south from Jonah Sanford, two-thirds 
the way to the Turnpike. No trace of habitation now remains and the land about 
is a sand waste. 

1844, W. E. Eastman, i ; S. R. Putnam, 2 ; Asahel Kent, 3; Aaron Warner, 
4 ; C. Dwinell, 5 ; Joel Goodell, 9; George Allen, 7 ; O. Howard, 8 ; Joel Gould, 9 ; 
W. A. Nay, 10; H. C. Capell, 11; James Lytel, 12; Asa Sheldon, 13; Aaron 
Jenne, 14; S. S. Sanford, 15; C. Chittenden, 16; James Blanchard, 17; Thomas 
Stone, 18; A. D. Ainsworth, 19; Hendrick, 20. 

1S45, W. E. Eastman, i ; D. L. Merrill, 2 ; A. L. Harran, 3 ; Aaron Warner, 
4; A. H, Chittenden, 5 ; Joel Goodell, 6; Jacob Palmer, 7; H. Hayden, 8 ; P. J. 
Cheney, 9; Thomas Swett, 10; William Oliver, 11 ; Adison Jaquis, 12; Guy 
Griggs, 13 ; H. Corwin, 14 ; S. S. Sanford, 15 ; Noah Post, 16 ; Alonzo Weller, 17 ; 
Thomas Stone, 18 ; R. T. Wheelock, 19 ; A. W. Gilbert, 20. 

1846, Alanson Fisher, i ; E. R. Sheldon, 2; S. R. Witherell, 3; Philip 
Mosher, 4 ; A. H. Chittenden, 5; Albert Sheldon, 6; Hiram Taylor, 7; Hiram 
Lindsay, 8 ; Elisaph Smith, 9 ; William A. Nay, 10; Hiram Newton, 11; Jesse 



414 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Phelps, 12 ; Elijah Ober, 13 ; Loren Grow, 14; William Smith, 15 ; L. Lyman, i6; 
John S. Roberts, 17; Thomas Stone, 18; A. D. Ainsworth, 19; L. C. Knapp, 20. 

1847, J. B. Durfey, i ; Henry B. Sanford, 2 ; Josiah Smith, 3 ; Aaron Warner, 
4 ; Cyrus Drake, 5 ; George Eggleston, 6 ; S. Tilden, 7 ; Hiram Goodnow, 8 ; Harry 
Brown, 9 ; Isaac Austin, 10; ClarkjAdams, 11 ; Alanson Blair, 12; Guy Gregg, 13; 
Asahel Jenne,li4; Jehiel Austin, 15; C. Chittenden, 16 ; Elkana Shermond, 17 ; 
Martin Blair, i8; L. C. Sylvester, 19 ; Noble McCarter, 20 ; Asa Squire, 21 ; N. C. 
Crouch, 22. 

1848, Joseph B. Durfey, i ; Jonah Sanford, Jr., 2 ; Melville Greene, 3; Aaron 
Warner, 4 ; William S. Phelps, 5 ; George Eggleston, 6 ; Charles Weller, 7 ; A. S. 
Smith, 8; Harvey Brown, 9; Thomas Swett, 10; Lyman Oliver, 11 ; Marion 
Castle, 12; Gains Sheldon, 13 ; Gilbert Cutler, 14 ; Jerry Richardson, 15 ; C. Chit- 
tenden, 16; William Iloyt, 17 ; I. C. Cady, 18 ; Orlin A. Peck, 19 ; J. Hancock, 20 ; 
Asa Squire, 21 ; Nelson C. Crouch, 22. 

1849, George S. Wright, i ; George Rockwood, 2 ; Alfred Harran, 3; Roswell 
Hopkins, 4 ; Ephraim Roberts, 5 ; Jason Brush, 6 ; George W. Eggleston, 7 ; Hiram 
Lindsay, 8 ; Hiram Taylor, 9 ; John Sweat, i o ; Lyman Oliver, 1 1 ; Patrick Parker, 
12; Guy Griggs, 13; Loren Grow, 14; J. Richardson, 15; Hugh Kennedy, 16; 
Chandler Hoit, 17; Thomas Stone, 18; Nelson Witherell, 19; Joseph Wilcox, 20; 
S. Claughlin,2i ; Roswell H. Laughlin, 22. 

1850, George S. Wright, i ; Lee Eastman, 2 ; John Harran, 3; Fred Hopkins, 
4 ; E. M. Roberts, 5 ; W. S. Wing, 6; G. W. Eggleston, 7; Hiram Lindsay, 8; 
Harvey Brown, 9; John Sweat, 10; Hiram Newton, 1 1 ; L. Richardson, 12; Parker 
Converse, 13; Loren Grow, 14 ; David Leach, 15; C. Chittenden, 16; S. R. Ward, 
17; Martin Blair, 18; N. Witherell, 19; Ed. Sanborn, 20; Asa Squire, 21; F. P. 
Sprague, 22. 

1851, Reuben P. Abbott, i; Dyer L. Merrill, 2; Alfred S. Harran, 3; Ira 
Squire, 4; William S. Phelps, 5 ; William S. King, 5; Alvin Woodruff, 7; Hiram 
Lindsay, 8 ; Joel Gould, 9 ; Charles Austin, 10; William H. Hamilton, 11; L. G. 
Richardson, 12 ; Elijah Ober, 13 ; Asahel Jenne, 14, Jonah Sanford, Jr., 15 ; Frank 
Kellogg, 16; George R. Ward, 17; Thomas Stone Jr., 18; Silas Wood, 19; William 
Robinson, 20; John Chase, Jr., 21 ; E. M. Post, 22. 

Jonah Sanford, Jr., was then living on the Turnpike where Thomas Conlin 
does now. 

1852, Reuben P. Abbott, i; Jonah Sanford, 2 ; Josiah Smith, 3; Norris S. 
Mosher, 4; George W. Brown, 5; John Goodell, 6; Calvin Griffin, 7; Hezekiah 
Wilson, 8 ; Elisaph Smith, 9 ; Joel Witherell, 10, Henry C.|Capell, 11 ; William H. 
Dewey, 12, Parker Converse, 13; James Smith, 14; William Richardson, 15; C. 
Chittenden, 16; Joshua Brooks, 17; Jacob S. Cady, 18; William A. Sheals, ig; Z. 
White, 20"; John Chase, 21 ; Nelson C. Crouch, 22. 

i853> William Newton, i; Lucien H. Kent, 2; E. II. Risdon, 3; Lamed 
Warner, 4 ; George Brown, 5 ; Joseph A. Brush, 6; W. Blanchard, 7 ; John Lindsay, 
8; A. Grandy, 9 ; T. Swett, 10 ; Lyman Oliver, 11; Hubel Dewey, 12; Francis 
Davis, 13; F. Goulding, 14; John Conner, 15; F. Kellogg, 16; E .Austin, 17; 
Thomas Stone, 18; W. A. Sheals, 19; J. Hancock, 20; David Currier, 21 ; Fred 
Kent, 22 ; A. Harriman, 23 ; Orville Parker, 24. 

1854, William Newton, i; Darius E. Kent, 2; George Smith, 3; Philip 
Mosher, 4; E. N. Roberts, 5; John Sheldon, 6; Henry Henderson, 7; Horace 
Hayden, 8j Lewis White, 9; J. Kimpton, 10; William Oliver, 11 ; Charles Faulk- 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 415 

net, 12 ; Parker Converse, 13 ; Ansel Pulsifer, 14 ; Diah Hazen, 15 ; Caleb Wright, 
16; Edwin Cluff, 17; J. S. Cady, 18; W. A. Sheals, 19; Isaac Bigelow,2o; David 
Currier, 21 ; Nathan Goodnow, 22 ; Eber Pinney, 23; Jerry Ford, 24. 

185s, Samuel O. Kennedy, i ; Israel Putnam, 2; P'red Hopkins, 3; Reuben 
Wells, 4 ; William S. Phelps, 5 ; Joseph A. Brush, 6 ; W. Blanchard, 7 ; George 
Lindsay, 8 ; Paul J. Cheney, Jr., g ; Josiah Kimpton, 10; D. Hamilton, 11 ; Charles 
Blair, 12; Edward Remington, 13 ; Dimick Osgood, 14 ; J. Richardson, 15 ; Frank 
Kellogg, 16; N. Clough, 17; Thomas Stone, 18; L. Chapman, 19; James Duffy, 
20 ; Erastus Farr, 21 ; Elias Post, 22 ; Eber Pinney, 23; Orville Parker, 24. 

1856, George S. Wright, i; Dyer L. Merrill, 2 ; George Smith, 3; Roswell 
Hopkins, 4; C. Vincent, 5 ; D. F. Henderson, 6; A. Woodruff, 7 ; George Lindsay, 
8; William Dewey, 9; Robert Wells, 10; Dar. Hamilton, 11; A. Blair, 12; Asa 
Sheldon, 13 ; Dimick Osgood, 14 ; J. Richardson, 15 ; P. Clukey, 16 ; N. Witherell, 
17; J. Meekham, 18; Calvin Cutler, 19; Martin D.Blair, 20; Myron Ford, 2t ; 
Fred H. Kent, 22 ; William Robertson, 23 ; Reuben Davis, 24. 

1857, Frank Williams, i ; Israel Putnam, 2 ; Frank Snell, 3; Philip Mosher 
4; William S. Phelps, 5; D. F. Henderson, 6 ; C. B. Weller, 7; H. Goodnow, 8 ; 
G. R. Clark, 9; J. Kimpton, 10; Dar. Hamilton, 11; Alonzo Parker, 12; Daniel 
Bates, 13, James Smith, 14; Thomas Conlin, 15; Peter Clukey, 16; John Chase, 
17; William A. Sheals, 19; M. D. Blair, 20; Asher Castle, 21; John S. Roberts, 
22 ; E. Haselgrave, 23 ; D. Squire, 24, Anson Potter, 25. 

1S58, George S. Wright, i ; Charles Wing, 2 ; Loren Smith, 3 ; L. C. Cool- 
idge, 4 I Peter Clukey, 5 ; Albert Sheldon, 6 ; H. Henderson, 7 ; H. Goodnow, 8 ; 
Harry Brown, 9; Joel Witherell, 10; Henry C. Capell, 11 ; Hubbel Dewey, 12; Asa 
Sheldon, 13; Dimick Osgood, 14; John Cutler, 15; Caleb Wright, 16; Thomas 

Stone, 18; Atoine S. , 19; Russell Smith, 20; Asher Castle, 21 ; T. H. Laugh- 

lin, 22 ; E. Haselgrave, 23 ; Otis Cudsworth, 24th ; Anson Potter, 25 ; A. Pul- 
sifer, 26; Samuel Chaney, 27. 

1859, George S. Wright, i ; Charles Wing, 2 ; David Leach, 3; Phelps Wells, 
4 ; Cyrus Drake, 5 ; John Goodell, 6 ; M. Gifiin, 7 ; Anson Cole, 8 ; W. Huntley, 9 ; 
Robert Wells, 10; D. Brownell, 11 ; A. Jaquis, 12 ; Park Convers, 13 ; Stephen Miller, 
14; I. P. L. Hazen, 15; J. Hodgkins, :6; Warren Fish, i8; R. Wheelock, 19; E. 
L. Morgan, 20 ; Myron S. Ford, 21 ; C. Macomber, 22 ; Zeb White, 23 ; O. Cudworth, 
24 ; Noble McArthur, 25 ; Asahel Jenne, 26. 

i86o, William Newton, i ; William Robinson, 2; William S. Howe, 3 ; Ros- 
well Hopkins, 4 ; Stephen Smith, 5; George H. Brush, 6; Arden Weller, 7; N. 
Goodnow, 8 ; Rollin Clark, 9 ; Robert Wells, 10 ; William Oliver, 1 1 ; Alanson Blair, 
12 J Philo Davis, 13 ; Stephen Miller, 14 ; Thomas Conlin, 15 ; Caleb Wright, 16; S. 
D. Cady, 18; D. Cutler, 19; S. Drake, 20; Jeremy Ford, 21 ; T. E. Post, 22; Wil- 
liam Robinson, 23 ; O. Cudworth, 24 ; Orlin Potter, 25 ; Arthur Noble, 26 ; Samuel 
Chaney, 27. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

Abstract of the Minotes of the Town Meeting's from t807 to 1901 
— The Proceedings for the Year J 806 (first Town Meeting) are 
given entire in the Chapter on the Organization of the Town. 

Minutes, 1807. 

Voted, first, that a bounty of ten dollars be raised for each wolf killed in 
town. 

Second, that a lawful fence shall be made five feet high of logs, rails, stone or 
other material, and three feet from the bottom the open space between the rails or 
poles not to exceed six inches. 

Minutes, 1808. 

Voted, first, that Messrs. McLaughlin, Blanchard and Abbott be a committee 
to regulate the manner in which the inoculation of smallpox shall be administered 
in town. 

Second, the sum of sixty dollars for two sets of statute laws and other books 
for use of town. 

Third, that the schoolhouse in the centre district be the place for holding town 
meetings. 

Fourth, that all marks for cattle, sheep, etc., be recorded with town clerk. 

Fifth, that $5 be paid for each wolf's pate, and the sum of ;Jioo be raised 
for such purpose. 

Sixth, that the sum of $250 be raised for the support of the poor. 

(They voted very generous appropriations for many years, but they were not 
all levied or collected and a good part of what were actually assessed was paid by 
way of offset, labor, bounty, etc.) 

Minutes, March, 1809. 

Voted, first, to raise $15 to pay for three wolves killed last year. 

Second, to only assess three days' work on road to each assessable inhabitant, 
provided they will agree to work the rest on road through town No. 7 to Malone 
and through Stockholm to Potsdam Falls. 

Third, that Sydney Dunton, Stephen Langworthy and Amasa Blanchard be a 
committee to audit accounts of ofScials since town was organized. 

Minutes, March, 1810. 
The following propositions were voted: Support of poor, $ 1 00 ; each wolf 
killed, jSio; for standard brass yard and weights and measures, $115. 

Special Meeting, June 20, 1810. 
Voted, that the commissioners be requested to lay out Turnpike where road 
now runs from Benj. W. Hopkins's house to the bridge over St. Regis River near 
Esq. Blanchard's ; also from St. Regis bridge to where new road crosses Deer 

416 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 417 

River. Judge Atwater, a director in the Turnpike Company, then in town, stated 
that he had not the power to direct the laying out of the road as requested, but if 
the town would contribute $500 and do something handsome in the way of work, 
he would use his influence to have it done. On motion of Roswell Hopkins the 
sum of S500 was voted to be given to said company. 

(It is morally certain that Benjamin W. Hopkins then lived in the present 
John A. Harran residence on the west bank of Lyd Brook and south side of road in 
Hopkinton village. Amasa Blanchard then lived at or near where the house of A. 
A. Hawkins now stands. This shows conclusively that there was then a bridge at 
or near the present bridge in Nicholville.) 

Special Meeting, January 15, 1811. 

Voted, that the Legislature be petitioned to increase the tax from $75 to 
$150 on each town through which the Northwest Bay road runs for its benefit ; 
that Hopkinton be added to such towns ; that the Legislature authorize a lottery to 
raise $ic,ooo, for repairs to said road ; that Hopkinton be exempt from jury duty for 
four years. 

Minutes, March, 181 i. 

Voted, $150 for a pound in western, centre and eastern district ; $100 for 
the poor 1^15 for Dr. Stephen Lang%vorthy attending Asahel Rasey while sick at 
Amasa Blanchard's ; $4 for Samuel Brooks for killing wolf ; that the line between 
Hopkinton and Massena be surveyed, and that B. W. Hopkins, Thaddeus Laughlin 
and James Trussell direct it. 

Special Meeting, May 2, 181 1. 

Voted, on motion of Dr. Stephen Langworthy, to raise $200 to clear off and 
fence burying ground now in use near Roswell Hopkins's dwelling, and that Roswell 
Hopkins, Lii Roburds and Reuben Post take charge of it ; that $100 be raised to 
encourage the destruction of wolves. 

(This refers to the cemetery grounds in behind the Dr. Gideon Sprague lot. It 
would seem from this that Roswell Hopkins must then have lived on that corner or 
just north of the town house. The road to Jared Dewey, also to Horace Train, sur- 
veyed out in June, 181 1.) 

Minutes, March, 1812. 

Voted, to divide Cookham into three road districts : viz., the V^'estern, to in- 
clude all west of Daniel Hoar's barn where the Market road intersects the Turnpike, 
with Ira Collins, overseer ; the Northern, to include all on the Market road and west 
of St. Regis River, with Jonathan Darby, overseer ; the Eastern, to include all west 
of Hopkinton to where it intersects the Market road, with John Brownell, overseer ; 
J200 for poor; $100 for wolves, with $5 for each wolf killed ; that all ox sleds 
be (our feet wide, and that a fine of $2 be imposed on all using a sled narrower on 
the public highway ; that a lawful fence shall be four feet high, well erected of tim- 
ber, rails or stone. 

Minutes, March, 1813. 

Voted, to fiay $5 for each wolf killed ; that Oliver Sheldon's barnyard be 
a lawful pound ; that double the amount received from school fund be raised for 
schools. 

Minutes, March, 1814. 

Voted, 5ioo for poor, $100 for wolves, to raise double the school moneys. 



4i8 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

The town of Parishville was now organized March i8, 1814, and so took no 
part in this town meeting. 

A road was laid out in November, 1814, beginning a few rods east of Abijah 
Chandler's house running north forty-five degrees east two hundred rods to inter- 
sect the Martin road twenty-two rods south of Silas Massey's house. 

Minutes, March, 1815. 
Voted, for poor, )fioo; for wolf bounty, $100, $10 for each wolf and $5 for 
whelp; that town clerk's salary be $10, to raise three times public school moneys, 
to build only one pound this year, to pay R. Post and J. Merrill $5 for auditing 
supervisor's accounts ; that all rams found in highway between August 20 and 
November i shall be forfeited. 

Minutes, March, :8i6. 

Voted, that Roswell Hopkins, Abijah Chandler and Elisha Risdon ascertain 
the line between Hopkinton and Massena. Other matters voted about the same as 
last year. 

In May, 1816, a private road was surveyed beginning 3^ feet south of the 
northeast corner of Ebenezer Frost's lands, near the meeting-house, running due 
west 27 rods to the west bank of Lyd Brook. 

Minutes, March, 1817. 
Voted, to pay Eastman and Chubb $20 killing two wolves, to pay $2 for each 
fox killed, to raise three times the school moneys, to pay Mr. Meacham ;f50 for 
killing two panthers ; that all rams in highway between September I and November 
20 shall be forfeited. 

Minutes, March, 1818. 
Voted, to raise for schools three times the school fund moneys, to pay Sio 
for every catamount killed. 

Minutes, March, 1819. 
Voted, $20 for each catamount, $10 for each wolf, $1 for each fox, $2 per 
week out of town interest moneys for support of Miss Harris till next harvest. 

Minutes, March, 1S20. 
Voted, for each wolf $10, catamount J15, one cent for every mouse killed, six 
cents for every squirrel ; that all thistles in road districts be cut, and that all rams 
at large between September i and November 10 be forfeited. 

Minutes, 1820. 

Voted, to assess three times school money allowed the town; for wolf, $5 ; for 
catamount, $15 ; for bear, $2 ; for fox, $2 ; that salary of town clerk be J15. 

Surveyed the road on west side of present cemetery grounds (" near old grist- 
mill ") in June, 1821. 

Also surveyed road beginning four rods from Samuel Wilson's house (foot of 
hill) and running down on bank of St. Regis River one hundred and twenty-five rods 
to John Thomas's still. 

Minutes, 1821. 

Voted, to pay JS5 for wolf ; $15 for each catamount and 167.50 for each young 
catamount ; for every bear, $2 ; for every fox, $2, and young fox, $1 ; to pay town 
clerk, J15 salary ; and that all rams at large between September i and November 10 
be forfeited. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 419 

Minutes, 1822. 

Voted, for building a pound, $40, on east side of broolc south of Turnpike; for 
standard weights, measures and brass yard, $25 ; that Mr. Risdon be town sealer; 
that horses and hogs shall not be free commoners from April i to December i ; that 
all rams at large between September i and December i be castrated ; that Elisha 
Risdon and Daniel C. Bastin ascertain the line between this town and Massena. 

Surveyed road between Joel and Samuel Goodell's farms north one hundred 
and sixty rods, west near six rods and thence north thirty rods. 

Minutes, 1823. 
Voted, to raise double the moneys appropriated for schools ; that sheep, horses 
and hogs be free commoners ; that the new pound be accepted. 

Minutes, 1824. 

Voted, to raise as much money for schools as the law will allow; that horses, 
bulls, hogs nor sheep shall be considered free commoners ; that all boars found at 
large be castrated; that Jio be paid for each wolf killed and I5 for each whelp. 

Surveyed road between Lee Eastman's (then Asa Squire's farm) and Heman 
Sheldon's farms south to Turnpike. 

Minutes, 1825. 
To raise all the school moneys the law will allow; that hogs, sheep and horses 
shall not run at large ; that rams at large between September i and December be 
castrated; to raise $30 additional for weights and measures; to pay $5 for each wolf 
and half that for each young wolf. 

Minutes, 1826. 
Voted, the letter H a proper device for officiating weights and measures ; that 
Elisha Risdon be the sealer for the town. 

Minutes, 1827. 

Voted, to raise double school funds ; to castrate all bucks at large between 
August 15 and November 15 ; that horses, hogs and sheep be free commoners; to 
raise $10 for bookcase for town clerk. 

Surveyed a road beginning at a point in the Potsdam road sixteen rods west 
of the centre of Lyd Brook ; thence north six degrees east one hundred and sixty- 
five rods to a point in Stockholm road eight rods twenty-one links west of the 
centre of said brook. 

Minutes, 1828. 

Voted, to raise double this town's proportion of school moneys ; that all rams 
and boars at large between November 20 and December i be castrated. 

Minutes, 1829. 

Voted, to raise all the school money the law will allow ; that all horses, hogs 
and sheep be free commoners. 

Surveyed road between Joel and Samuel Goodell's farms north eighty rods to 
south bounds of John Witherell's farm. 

Minutes, 1S30. 
Voted, the surplus moneys to schools, to raise double the school moneys, hogs 
not free from April 15 to November 15 ; that all rams at large between August 15 
and December i be castrated ; Elisha Risdon, sealer. 



420 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

MlNU'lES, 1 83 1. 

Voted, that Caleb and Homer Wright and Dr. Sprague settle accounts with 
Mr. Risdon ; that a lawful fence be four and one-half feet high ; that double the town's 
school moneys be raised. 

Isaac R. Hopkins received 82 votes for justice, S. C. Remington 44, Homer 
Wright 42, and Asa Durrell 42. 

Minutes, 1832. 

Voted, that school inspectors and commissioners have $1 per day, collectors 
have five per cent for collecting taxes. Eliphalet Brush received 63 votes for justice, 
and Horace N. Branch 41. 

Surveyed a road between the farms of Orin Andrews and Julius Peck on the 
east and Jonah Sanford on the west, beginning near schoolhouse just east of Seth 
Putnam's and extending south to Turnpike near Joseph Brownell's. [I never knew 
or heard of a road at this point. — Ed.] 

Minutes, 1833. 

Voted, that the moneys in hands of supervisor and poormasters be appor- 
tioned to schools, to raise double the amount of the town's proportion for school 
purposes. 

Minutes, 1834. 

Voted, Elisha Risdon, sealer ; fence viewers have jSi per day, also school in- 
spectors J that all surplus moneys be turned to common schools. 

The commissioners of schools reported having received and expended JS220. 
There were then nine districts with 273 scholars ; district No. 1 had 31, No. 2, 65, 
No. 3, 60. 

The overseers of the poor turned over noted to them against R. Hopkins 
J734, Eli Squire $141, Elisha Risdon $247, and others. 
Minutes, 1835. 

Voted, to raise $1.75 for James Thomas and J1.97 for Harry Wead, to deduct 
$1 from Barney Moon's note for Jf5 for use of cow ; that commissioners of schools 
discharge judgment against Samuel Wilson and take mortgage on his freehold ; that 
Roswell Hopkins and Eli Squire's notes be filed in clerk's office; that ^75 of poor 
money go to schools. 

Road moneys received $508.75, expended $270.30. 

School moneys received from all sources $293.40, expended $205.74. The 
commissioners held notes, etc., for $1,403.91, of which only $521 was considered 
good. 

Minutes, 1836. 

Voted, that there be only one constable ; that J75 of poor funds go to schools ; 
that $40 and all interest be indorsed on judgment against Samuel Wilson. ' 
Minutes, 1837. 

Voted, to pay Samuel Wilson $40 for work done on bridge at East Village 
(Nicholville), which sum was exacted of him for damage done to said bridge by his 
dam, to raise double the school moneys allowed the town, to use $75 of old poor 
fund for schools. 

Minutes, 1S38. 

Voted, to raise by tax double the school moneys, to use the percentage $23.75 
on non-resident taxes on roads and bridges, to appropriate $100 of poor fund for 
schools. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 421 

Minutes, 1839. 

Voted, to give percenfage on non-resident taxes $24.50 to tlie schools for 
libraries, to raise for schools same amount as town gets from common school fund, 
to pay Seth Putnam and O. Andrews $15.39 to be by them divided among the heads 
of families according to children between the ages of five and sixteen. 

School moneys from county treasury $46.05, from town $92.10, and from poor 
fund debtors J220.34, making in all $358.49, of which was expended $238.15. 

Moneys received for roads and bridges $710.26, expended $431.88. 

Minutes, 1840. 
Voted, to give percentage on non-resident tax $25.40 to schools, to raise by tax 
for schools double the amount the town gets from the common school fund. 
Minutes, 1841. 
Voted, to petition the Legislature to authorize the Board of Supervisors to levy 
a tax on this town for $250 to repair the town house ; that the percentage on non- 
resident taxes $29.15 be given to schools. 

Minutes, 1842. 
Voted, that Jonah Sanford, C. S. Chittenden and R. H. Laughlin have control 
of town house and to say for what it may be used ; to raise $30 to repair fence 
about burying ground. 

Minutes, 1843. 
Voted, that Elisha Risdon's note that is in the hands of the commissioners of 
highways, $19.68, be given up to him ; to finish burying ground fence and get a lock 
for the gate ; that the interest on Ezra Sheldon's note be allowed to him ; that Noah 
Post be sealer. 

Minutes, 1844. 
Voted, that school superintendent collect interest on notes in his hands and 
a judgment against Samuel Wilson ; that the notes of Amasa lilanchard and Barney 
Moon be destroyed; to use percentage on non-resident taxes^in painting town house 
and lock for door, and that Aaron Warner have charge of it. 
Minutes, 1845. 
Voted, that judgment against Samuel Wilson be cancelled; that L. C. Knapp 
be paid ninety-five cents out of non-resident percentage and balance go to schools. 
Minutes, 1846. 
Voted, that there be only one commissioner of highways and one poormaster; 
that town clerk have no salary. 

Minutes, 1847. 
Voted, that Jonah Sanford, C. S. Chittenden and R. H. Laughlin have charge 
of town house, and if used for schoolhouse then to collect rent. Total school moneys 
used, $387.02. Raised by tax, $302.92 ; in hands of county treasurer apportioned 
by state, $151.46; making for current year, $454.38. 
Minutes, 1848. 
Voted, to raise $10 for bookcase for town clerk ; to raise for schools double the 
school money. School moneys by tax, $302.92, and from state, $151.46. 
Minutes, 1849. 
Voted, to raise $10 to repair town house and purchase a stove ; to raise double 
school moneys ; to raise $50 to repair fence around burying ground. School moneys 
by tax, S302.92 ; from state, $157.03. 



422 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

■:4i Minutes, 1850. 

;• Voted, that no more school shall be kept in the town house when there is a 

.'i school in the lower room of said town house. 

^ • [Evidently the town house was thought to be getting dangerous. The bridge 

i' Over St. Regis River at Nicholville was rebuilt in 1850. — Ed.] 

.■ • ' Minutes, 1851. 

;■ Voted, to raise $200 highway money ; to raise $75 for the purpose of purchasing 

,:. a hearse. 

'■■.,", Minutes, 1852. 

■ ; Voted, to remit $10 of the fine imposed on John Conner for assault on Thomas 

Mains; to raise $250 for highways ; school moneys by tax, ^^445.87, and from county 
s, , i treasurer, $348. 

','.;■. I Minutes, 1853. 

.,'"$ Voted, to raise $50 to purchase addition to burying ground; that William S. 

, I ;. Phelps, Franklin Kellogg and T. H. Laughlin be a committee in charge. 

School moneys from state, $772.26. 

Minutes, 1854. 
Voted, to raise an additional J75 for burying ground purposes. 
■■ fl; Minutes, 1856. 

>J#i ■ Voted, to remit to Parker Converse $4.30, to raise $50 to purchase burying 

jSl ground in Catharineville. 

' '•^' Minutes, 1857. 

y Resolution adopted at town meeting: /■^esolveif. That the inhabitants of this 

town request the Legislature at this session to appropriate )iS50,ooo to the St. Law- 
rence University. 

Minutes, 185S. 
School moneys received from county treasurer, $1,049.33. 
• i- ', Minutes, 1859. 

',\-^ School moneys from county treasurer, $1,081.21 ; highway money, $406.10. 

,, ; if Minutes, i860. 

'•'•1 School moneys paid treasurer, $947.76; highway moneys expended, $247 ; and 

;:J on hand, $257. 

Minutes, 1861. 

School moneys received, $947.16. Paid out, $941.60. Highway money from 

collector, J250, and from ex-commissioner, $252.20; expended $247.12. 

Minutes, 1862. 

I The Civil War began April 14, 1861, in earnest by the Confederates firing on 

^ Fort Sumter on that day. There was keen and intense excitement everywhere as 

the news of that event passed over the country, as I well remember as a boy of 

. i fourteen. Men everywhere stopped their work when told of what the rebels had' 

■ J?B / done, and said : " I guess we have got to have war after all. I thought the South was 

"im ,,'; only blufiing, as its statesmen have been doing over the slavery question for thirty 

'••'• -I years, but if they mean to disrupt this Union on account of slavery they will find 

i they cannot do it. The North will rise in mass and whip them in ninety days." 

,i^ The prevailing opinion was that it would soon be over, that the North would soon 

.'SE^^ stamp it out. The war was the talk in the field while at work, at the fireside, at the 

.'Is ,* village where people congregated to get the news, and in fact wherever men met. 

■ The women partook also of the spirit of patriotism which swept over the country 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 423 

and joined heartily in every move to crush the insurrection and save the Union. 
There were a few men, I am ashamed to admit, in the North, in St. Lawrence County 
and even in the grand old town of Hopkinton, who were not loyal to the Union cause. 
Only the very boldest, however, were outspoken in their expressions of disloyalty, 
and even they spoke in a guarded way when in the presence of men of vigor and 
courage. I can remember nearly all the Copperheads, as they were called, that 
lived in town. There were not many of them, probably not to exceed a dozen, 
who had the effrontery to talk in favor of the South, or rather to attack President 
Lincoln and all that his administration did and were doing to put down the rebel- 
lion. I am tempted to give the names of those I can remember, but it would do no 
good. Nearly all of them lived to see the Union restored and to partake of the 
blessings of that restoration. Nearly all of them, all but one that I now recall, have 
gone the way that awaits us all. Seeing the error of their ways the most of them 
were afterwards ashamed of what they said and did, to their credit be it said. 

President Lincoln issued his call for seventy-five thousand three months' men 
on the day following the attack on Fort Sumter. The call was prepared on Sun- 
day, as I learn from Dr. Edward Everett Hale in the Outlook, but dated the next day. 
This shows, too, that the President then thought the insurrection could be put down 
in three months. Matters grew rapidly worse, when it soon became evident that 
there was to be a real and terrible war. Accordingly on the 2d of May, July 22 
and 25 the President issued calls for a total of five hundred thousand men. Two 
companies of the i6th Regiment were raised in eastern St. Lawrence, viz., Co. B, 
with James M. Pomeroy, captain, Wilson Hopkins, lieutenant, and George L. East- 
man, ensign ; Co. F, with John C. Gilmore, captain, John A. Vance, lieutenant, and 
Henry T. Sanford, first sergeant. Captain Gilmore has remained continuously in 
the army from that time. He is now a general in the regular army. There were a 
number of young men who left the old St. Lawrence Academy and joined these com- 
panies. 

The battle of ]!ull Run took place July 2, 1861, not a very great distance from 
the city of Washington. The troops were raw on both sides, and I suppose it was 
about as irresolute, weak and inefficient a battle as was ever fought, considering the 
number of men engaged, — some thirty thousand on each side. Our people had 
the day won when they became panic-stricken and ran for Washington a fleeing 
broken, disorganized mass. The news of this defeat as it went over the North 
created consternation and alarm everywhere. The Copperhead put on a smiling 
face and greeted his neighbor with, "What do you think of it now? Hasn't it 
turned out just as I told you ? I tell you it will take three northern men to match 
one man of the South. They are born fighters down there." Discouraging as was 
the news, in fact it served only to stiffen the backbone of the North. It knit the 
people of the North more firmly and compactly together. They plainly saw that 
they must fight and fight in earnest if they would save the Union and stop the 
spread of slavery, and they did for four years at a fearful cost of manhood and 
treasure. But I am not writing a history of the war. All that I am called on here 
to do is to give the official action of the town in connection with that war. I regret 
very much that the records on this subject are very sparse, and, it would seem, in- 
complete, since there are only a few entries and resolutions concerning that great 
war. The first entry that I find is the report of a special meeting held at the town 
house, agreeably to a call therefor, September 2, 1862. At this meeting Clark S. 
Chittenden, Esq., was made chairman. The committee on " paying bounties " was 



424 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

called on to report what they had done. Who constituted this committee or when 
or by what authority it was appointed the minutes do not show. Joseph A. Brush 
must have been a member, since he responded_as follows : " The committee has be- 
come responsible for jS440, and has secured subscriptions for $336." David F. Hen- 
derson stated that he had paid $30 to volunteers, making the total subscribed 
$336, and leaving a balance due the committee of $104. Whereupon S. C. 
Remington moved that further effort be made to raise by subscription what was 
due the committee, and to pay every volunteer thereafter the sum of jSio until 
the town's quota was filled. This motion being put was lost. Thereupon Jonah 
Sanford, Jr., moved, seconded by Jacob Linendoll, that the sum of $275 be raised 
by a. tax upon the town, that the committee be paid therefrom, and the balance be 
paid to volunteers. George S. Wright moved an amendment, seconded by Philo 
A. Davis, that there be raised by a tax upon the property of the town the sum of 
$50 for each volunteer for three years, until the " town's quota for volunteers or 
drafted militia " be filled over and above the amount due the committee. The 
amendment, being put, was adopted. 

On motion, meeting adjourned. 

The money so subscribed and paid by various citizens was afterwards and in 
April, 1863, audited by the town board and made a charge upon the town under the 
act so authorizing. 

Minutes, 1863. 

A special town meeting was held at the town house, December 15, 1863. It 
was like the one in 1862, a war meeting. C. S. Chittenden was again chairman. 
On motion the chair appointed the following committee on resolutions :' viz., David 
F. Henderson, Jonah Sanford, Jr., Milo Adams, Roswell Hopkins and Franklin 
Kellogg. 

The committee reported the following resolutions, which, as they are so well 
put, I give verbatim : 

Resolved, first, that a certificate be issued and signed by the supervisor and 
town clerk for the sum of $300, with interest on the same from the date thereof 
until paid, and be delivered to each volunteer who has or shall enlist and be 
mustered into the service of the United States for this town under the last call of 
the President of the United States for three hundred thousand men, payable to 
said volunteer or his order, to be paid on or before the first day of February, 1865, 
said certificate to be issued and dated when sufficient evidence shall be furnished to 
said supervisor and town clerk that said volunteer has so enlisted and been 
mustered into the United States service. 

Resolved, second, that the sum of $6,500 be levied upon the taxable property of 
this town at the next meeting of the Board of Supervisors of St. Lawrence County to 
be collected at once from said taxable property for the purpose of paying the cer- 
tificates mentioned ; also that the said certificates be paid by the supervisor, and 
that the surplus, if any, of said moneys after paying said certificates be applied to 
the general purposes of the town. 

The above resolutions were read and after discussion adopted, with only one 
dissenting vote. Meeting adjourned. 

Such resolutions, imposing such a tax, with such a vote on their adoption, 
speak well for the patriotism of the people of the town. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 425 

Minutes, 1864. 

A special meeting was held February 16, 1864, and David F. Henderson made 
chairman. It being discovered that a legal meeting could not be held as sufficient 
time had not been given in the notice, the meeting became an informal one, voting 
that the sum of $400 be paid each volunteer. 

A special meeting was held at the town hall, February 24, 1864, when David 
F. Henderson was again made chairman, who read a tabulated statement from the 
provost marshal of the district showing that the quota for the town was full. There 
being no business, meeting adjourned. 

The fact that the quota of the town was full speaks better than words for the 
loyalty of its people. 

A special meeting was held at the town hall, March 30, 1864, when David F. 
Henderson was made chairman. C. S. Chittenden, Esq., offered resolutions, sec- 
onded by Ezra R. Sheldon, that the town pay the sum of S300 to each volunteer 
under the call of the President of February 15, 1864, for two hundred thousand men; 
that certificates be issued payable on or before the first day of February, 1866, and 
that the sum of $4,800 be levied by the Board of Supervisors upon the taxable prop- 
erty of the town to pay such certificates, which were duly adopted. 
Minutes, 1865. 

At the annual town meeting held February 14, 1865, the following resolutions 
were adopted : 

Resolved, first, that all certificates or any money heretofore voted for the 
purpose of paying bounties to volunteers, not liable to be called for that purpose, 
and the unexpended balance of bounty money received from the county, be applied 
so far as is necessary in the payment of bounties to volunteers under the last call of 
the President. 

Resolved, that King S. Chittenden, Dr. Fayette P. Sprague and David F. 
Henderson be a committee for the purpose of paying said bounties, and that they 
should pay said volunteers the sum of $200 out of said money and certificates. 
This committee reported in February, 1866, that they had received from the super- 
visor, S583.31, and from town certificates, $2,800, and had paid seventeen volunteers 
$200 each. 

Minutes, 1866. 

The sum of $600 was voted to build a bridge across the Racket River in 
Hollywood. 

Minutes, 1867. 

It was voted to raise the sum of $1,000 for a bridge at Nicholville. 
Minutes, 1869. 

The total cost of the bridge at Nicholville was found to be about $10,250, 
one-half to be borne by Lawrence. 

Minutes, 1870. 

At the annual town meeting, held February 8, 1870, resolutions were offered 
by Loren Smith that a new town house be built, on the present site provided good 
title thereto be obtained ; that the sum of $3,000 be raised for such purpose ; that the 
Board of Supervisors be instructed to levy the same on the town, and the Legisla- 
ture requested to pass an act legalizing the same. The vote on the same was by 
ballot kept by R. H. Freeman, and resulted in one hundred ninety-two votes for, 
and seventy-two against. Title to the lot was obtained and the hall built in 
1870 under the direction of a committee. The total cost of the building was 
$4,093.12. (See story of old town hall.) 



426 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Minutes, 1874. 
The sum of $150 was voted to improve the cemetery grounds, and $20 the 
cemetery grounds in Catharineville. 

Minutes, 1877. 
School moneys from county treasurer, $1,643.75. 
Highway money all told, $789.77. 

Minutes, I881. 
Voted $300 for building Day bridge above Nicholville. 

Minutes, 1883. 
Purchased the southerly end of present cemetery grounds of Mrs. Dickinson, 
at $225. Lower bridge at Fort Jackson rebuilt in 1883, 1884. 

Minutes, 1885. 
In May, 1885, the supervisor, town clerk, commissioner of highways and 
justices met and decided to replace the upper bridge at Fort Jackson with an iron 
bridge and to raise $2,000 for that purpose. The bridge cost $2,524.50. 

Minutes, 1887. 
In June, 1887, the same officials met and decided to borrow $1,200 for the 
purpose of building a bridge at Squire's Mills and across Lyd Brook near Benjamin 
Collins's. 

Minutks, 1888. 
The matter of a railroad being built through the town came up in town meet- 
ing, when a committee was named to get subscriptions in its aid, should the project 
materialize. 

Minutes, i88g. 
School moneys from county treasurer, $1,895.60. 

Supervisor received from tax on town and expended a little over $2,100. The 
commissioner of highways received $578, and expended $383. 
Minutes, 1890. 
The sum of $400 was authorized for the building of a stone bridge over Lyd 
Brook in Ilopkinton village. 

Minutes, igoo. 
On December 1 1, 1900, by an act of the Board of Supervisors the townships of 
Piercefield and Atherton were set off from Hopkinton into a new town by the name 
of Piercefield. In the adjustment of matters between the two towns the situation of 
affairs was found to be as follows : 

Valuation of town before division $1,334,240.00 

Valuation of new town ......... 592,380.00 

Valuation of present Ilopkinton ........ 748,860.00 

Ratio, Hopkinton, 556; Piercefield, 444. 

Indebtedness of Town. 

Bonded indebtedness .......... $2,500.00 

Poor account ........... 85.10 

Temporary care of poor ......... 114.32 

Assets ov Town. 

Town hall $1,250.00 

Cash on hand ........... 442.54 

Town safe [85.00 



CHAPTER XVII. 

Genealogical Records of the Pioneefs. 

In this chapter is given the genealogical records of many 
of the pioneers of the town, of ail that I have been able to 
gather sufficient data and information to make a fairly full 
record. The preparation of these records has required much 
time, labor, correspondence, persistence and patience. Had I 
had in the beginning a full comprehension of the tedious 
labor required, I now feel sure I should not have undertaken 
it. That there are some errors in dates and possibly a few in 
names I am quite satisfied, since considerable of my informa- 
tion came from elderly people who wrote feebly and indis- 
tinctly. I think it will be readily understood, if the reader 
will bear in mind that it is in continuous order ; that the first, 
second, third and fourth generations are each carried slightly 
to the right, and that each generation always has the same 
indentation. 

SETH ABBOTT, b. June l6, 1770; d. March 30, 1845 ; m. Sally 
Bccbc, b. May 10, 1769 ; d. March 18, 1812 ; in. 2d, Elizabeth Webster, 

b. March 12, 1784; d. June i6, 1850. He was born in , Conn. 

Was in New Lebanon, N. Y., in 1792, and soon after moved to Addison, 
Vt., whence he came to HopkJnton in 1806. He was quite a cripple, using 
two canes to get about. His daughter, Mrs. Lucetta Peck, of Potsdam, has 
the staffs. He first built a log house close to the brook near Ashbel Squire's, 
whose house stood where F. Macomber's now stands. Upon making cor- 
rect surveys, it was found that his house was on Mr. Squire's land and he 
had to abandon it. He then built a frame house on the knoll some eighty 
rods west, near Caleb Wright's. He did his family shoemaking. He sold 
farm to Reuben Wells and moved into the OlLn neighborhood in Canton, 
where he Uved eight years, when he and wife went to live with their daughter, 
Mrs. Lucetta Peck, at Nicholville, N. Y., where he died. Had ten chil- 
dren by first marriage and seven by the second: 

Jonathan B., b. July 19, 1789 ; d. March 31, 1825 ; m. Daraxa 

Russell, b. , 1794 ; d. April 20, 1885, aged ninety years. His 

widow married Stephen Eastman and died in Edwards, N. Y. Had 
two children by first marriage: 



428 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Emory 'W., b. July z6, 1819; 1. Gouverneur, N. Y.; m. 
Hannah S. Pickit, October, 1839; b. March 20, 1819; 
d. September 5, 1878. He was a member of Assembly for 
the years 1856, 1857, and is a reputable and highly re- 
spected citizen of his town. Had three sons: 

J. Henry, b. July, 1840, in Fowler ; 1. Gouverneur, 
N. Y.; m. Harriet E. Phelps, February 11, l86z; 

b. , 1839. Had three children: 

Emory W., 2d, b. August, 1864 ; 1. Gou- 
verneur ; m. Sada Wistemier, December 4, 
1890. 
Morton P., b. April i, 1866; 1. St. Albans, 
Vt. ; m. Maud Graves of Nevada City, 
Minn., June 8, 1897. 
Arthur H., b. June 7, 1873; 1. Gouver- 
neur; m. Bertha M. Clapp of Gouverneur, 
October 17, 1901. 
Justus B., b. October 23, 1842, in Fowler; 1. 
Gouverneur; m. Frances A. Wright, May ;, 1864; 
b. October 30, 1841. Had three children: 

A. Sherman, b. March i8, 1865; m. Mary 
Rob, October 12, 1887. Had three chil- 
dren: 

Hazel, Ruth and Robert. 
H. Lester, b. November 11, 1868; 1. Gou- 
verneur; m. Jennie Fitzgerald, February 14, 
1895. Had three children: 

Harry, Ross and Hope. 
Wright v., b. June 15, 1877. 
Vasco P., b. May 20, 1847, in Fowler; 1. Gouver- 
neur; m. Anna E. Farmer, December 21, 1872; b. 
May 2, 1 85 1. He is an able and very successful 
lawyer, was surrogate of the county twelve years, 
from 1880 to 1893. Had two children: 
Worth P., b. August 30, 1879. 
Hugh, b. June 5, 1884. 
Caroline M., b. September 27, 1822; d. November 17, 
1898; m. Charles V. Haile; b. October 14, 1823; d. Sep- 
tember 6, i8gi. Had one child : 

Celia D., b. November 29, 1851; single; 1. Gouver- 
neur. 
Samuel B., b. January 19, 1792; d. July 6, 1878; m. Hadassa 

Post. (See his record. ) 
Hannah S., b. January 10, 1794; died March 12, 
Powers, September 26, 181 l; b. April 24, 1783; d. 
Potsdam. Had ten children: 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 429 

Sarah R., b. September 11, 181 2; single. 
Harriet, b. September 26, 1814; d. May 4, 1891, Gar- 
nett, Kan.; m. Phineas Austin; b. March 18, 1807; d. 
March 25, 1896, Garnett, Kan. Had three children: 

Addie H., b. July 6, 1851, Potsdam; 1. Fremont, 
Neb.; m. John W. Andrews, March, 1874, Sterling, 
111. Had six children: 

Herbert R., b. August 19, 1875. 
Hugh C, b. November 10, 1876; d. March 
■ 3'> '878. 

Leon J., b. February 22, 1882. 
Francis C, b. September 2, 1884. 
Gertrude A., b. July 16, 1888. 
John A., b. December 17, 1891. 
Edward Ai, b. June 9, 1853, Potsdam; I. Topeka, 
Kan.; m. Carrie Snow, April, 1883; b. August 12, 
1863. Had three children: 

Jean E., b. August 19, 1885. 
Charles, b. July i, 1891. 
Roger S., b. January 5, 1898. 
Ella Bertha, b. June 24, 1857, Potsdam; 1. Mont 
Ida, Kan.; m. Elery D. Parks; b. May 9, 1857, 
Lyndon, Ind. Had two children: 

Fred Austin, b. March 17, 1880. 
Sylvia A., b. July 21, 1889. 

Mary M., b. May 19, 1818; 1. Potsdam; m. Levi Maynard; 
b. July 8, 1822; 1. Potsdam. Had one child: 

Herbert C, b. March 9, 1851; 1. Chiidwold, N.Y.; 
m. Sarah E. Taylor, October 17, 1878. Had four 
children : 

Mabel G., b. July 31, 1879. 

Anna J., b. June i, 1884. 

Emma L., b. December 19, 1886. 

John Li., b. September 3, 1888. 
Salmon, b. July 28, 1820; d. March 10, 1900, Neosho, 
Mo.; m. Susan Depew, October 2, 1844, Hopewell, N.Y. ; 
b. November i6, 1821; 1. Neosho, Mo. He served three 
years and two months in Co. F, 2d Iowa Cavalry, in Civil 
War. Had six children: 

M. Ai, b. June 27, 1848; 1. Iowa Falls, Iowa; m. 

Emma Martin, March 3, 1872. Had three children: 

Harvey Salmon, b. March 18, 1873; ^■ 

Ida Lowry, March i, 1899. 
Nellie I., b. December i, 1875. 
Maud, b. July 27, 1883. 



430 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Esther Emily, b. February 7,185 I ; 1. Neosho, Mo. ; 
m. Dewitt E. Bingham, August 7, 1867; killed in 
railroad accident; m. 2d, Austin E. Merrill. Had 
three children by first marriage: 
Eugene, died in infancy. 

Nora, b. September 10, 1870 ; 1. Savannah, 
lll.;m. George P. Lindsay, November, i 890. 
Oral, b. September 3, 1876; 1. Kansas City, 
Mo. ;m. Ellsworth M. Eckman in 1898. 
Mary Antoinette, b. December 17, 1852; 1. Web- 
ster City, Iowa; m. A. B. Millard, December 17, 
I 87 1. Had three children: 

Rossa, b. October 27, 1872; 1. Redlands, 
Cal. ; m. Edgar D. Meissner, August 29, 
1894. 
Myrtle, b. December ig, 1876; 1. Webster 
City; m. Percival Stearns, August 16, 1899. 
Fern, b. September 12, 1887. 
Emma C, b. September 13, 1855; d. October 28, 
1 89 1; m. Thomas J. Walker, November 12, 1878. 
Had four girls: 

Susie, b. September, 1880; 1. Neosho, Mo. 
Mabel, b. June, 1882; 1. Neosho, Mo. 
Grace, b. August, 1887; 1. Neosho, Mo. 
Glenn, b. November, 1899; 1. Neosho, Mo. 
Seth P., b. July 10, 1856; died October 3, 1870. 
Scott B., b. June 7, 1861; 1. Waterloo, Iowa; m. 
Cora E. Freeborn, March II, 1883. Had one child : 
Frank, b. July 21, 1889. 
Martha M., b. May 9, 1822; d. in Potsdam; m. Fielding 

Smith. No issue. 
Joseph, b. February 5, 1824; d. single. 
John D., b. May 7, 1826. 
Seth A., b. February 7, 1829; d. single. 
Cynthia E., b. August 13, 1833; d. in childhood. 
Hartwell A., b. January 19, 1835; I. Cincinnati, Ohio; 
m. Naoma Pennoyer. Had four children: 

Odiorne S., b. January 17, 1867; 1. Cincinnati, Ohio. 
Ruth, b. December 12, 1870; d. May 12, 1872. 
Agnes Rose, b. January 7, 1873; 1. Lyndon, Ohio; 
m. Smith G. Dunning, June 29, 1899. Had one 
child: 

Normal Pennoyer. 
Charis B., b. December 2, 1877; 1. Cincinnati, Ohio. 
Seth, Jr., b. June 10, 179S; d. November, 1877; m. Emily 
Cleveland. No issue. He was a Wesleyan Methodist minister, and 
died at Crown Point, N. Y., where he had lived many years. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 431 

Rhoena H., b. September 13, 1800; d. June 6, 1825, at Fort Jack- 
son; m. Eben Wright, January I, 1820, died in Michigan. He 
m. 2d, Lucy McAllister. Had two children by first and three by 
second marriage. Children of Rhoena only given: 

Amelia, b. March 5, 1821; d. 1850, in Michigan; m. Ben. 
Mallory, b. in Michigan. Had one child: 
Alzada. 
Sarah, b. December 12, 1823; 1. Castleton, Ont. ; m.y 
Oliver Pettet; d. July 22, 1847, Castleton; m. 2d. 
Nathaniel Gaffield, b. February 14, 1823; d. May 4, 
1900, Castleton. Had two sons by each marriage: 

Alanson, b. April 21, 1842; d. 1853, Castleton. 
Digene, b. May 4, 1845; '• Lake Geneva, Wis.; 
m. Harriet Gregg. Had three children: 

Gertie (Mrs. Dr. Perry Corune), Ypsilanti, 

Mich. 
Herbert, b. 1870; drowned January 14, 

1889. 
Allie, b. 1884. 

Oliver, b. April 5, 1851; d. December 25, 1862, 

Castleton. 
Nathan, b. August 29, 1853; 1- Castleton; m. Eliza- 
beth Gerovv, b. December 11, 1857; d. June 9, 
1885; m. 2d, Johanna Leslie, b. February 26, 1868. 
Had three children by first marriage and one by second: 
John L., b. October 13, 1878, teacher, 

Frankford, Ont. 
Arthur G., b. June 13, 1881; 1. Castleton. 
Sarah M., b. August i6, i884;l. Castleton. 
Olive A., b. February 2, 1894; 1. Castleton. 
Philo, b. January, 1803; d. in infancy. 

Sally, b. July 12, 1807; d. May 26, 1848; m. Luther Humphrey, 
May 23, 1837. Had two children: 

Ellen A., b. 1845; d. same year. 
Frank M., b. March 31, 1847. (See Lucetta Peck.) 
LiUCetta, b. June 9, 1809; d. September 29, I 81 3. 
Infant, b. July, 181 l; d. in infancy. 

Infant, b. March 18, 1812; d. at birth. The mother died a few 
hours later and was buried with her babe in her arms. (See diary.) 
Lucetta, b. February 3, 1814; d. April 14, 1903; m. Alphonso R. 
Peck, May 10, 1838; b. June 22, 1813; d. May 28, 1883. 
Adopted the son of her sister, Mrs. Humphrey, Frank M. Peck, b. 
March 31, 1847; 1. Potsdam, N. Y. ; m. Addle B. Henderson, De- 
cember 31, 1874; b. June 28, 1854; d. February 4, 1902. Mr. 
Peck has been cashier of People's Bank since 1896. He adopted 
Etta Kingston, b. October 18, 1879. 



432 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Philo, b. March zz, 1815; d. January 10, 1897, Greeley, Cal.j m. 
Adaline Chandler, September i, 184Z; b. October 10, 18Z3; d. 
August 24, I 90 1. He was nominated for county clerk at opening of 
the Civil War. The Republican leaders prevailed on him to step 
aside that they might put a " war Democrat," James F. Pierce, on 
the ticket in his place for the good of the cause, with their pledge and 
promise that he should have it next time. When the next nomination 
came around they had forgotten their promise and utterly ignored him. 
He needed it, and it hurt him. Had twelve children: 
Ellen L., b. October I, 1843; 1. Pueblo, Colo. 
Eugene H., b. April zg, 1845; m. Marion B. Getty; 1. 
Greeley, Colo. Had one son: 

James F., b. September zf , 1876. 
Charles C, b. December zz, 1847; d. September 6, 1848. 
Marriah, b. August 16, 1849; ^- '^^X '3» '850. 
Frances W., b. August z8, 1 85 1; d. May 9, 1 88 1. 
Frederick P., b. June z6, 1853; d. May z6, 1857. 
Jennie E., b. March l, 1858; m. Melton P. Henderson; 
1. Greeley, Colo. Had two children: 
Alice M., b. August 30, 1881. 
Ralph P., b. June 2, 1884. 
Adaline C, b. January 26, i860; d. March Z4, 1889; m. 
Adolph W. Petrikin. Had two children: 
Lloyd A., b. April 13, 1883. 
David L., b. December z8, 188;; d. 
Alice C, b. October 31, 1 861; 1. Pueblo, Colo.; m. Fred 
H. McDonald. Had one child: 
Alfred S., b. April 1, 1889. 
Sylvia M., b. October 29, 1863; 1. Greeley, Colo.; m. 
Joseph R. McRoberts. Had one child: 

Margurette A., b. September 30, 1889. 
Flora M., b. July 7, 1865; d. May 4, 1891; m. Fred B. 
Henderson. Had one child: 
Fred, b. April 29, 1891. 
■William P., b. August 16, 1867; 1. Laramie, Wyo. ; m. 
Annie Cook. Had two children: 

Florence M., b. April 14, 1899. 
Ruth A., b. May, 1 90 1. 
Annie V^., b. September 26, 1816; d. young. 
Elizabeth) b. September 8, 1817; d. young. 
Babe, d. young. 

Webster, b. November 18, 1821; d. December 31, 1878, Van- 
couver, Wash.; m. Mary L. Coffey, December 23, 1853, in San 
Francisco; 1. Vancouver, Wash. Had eight children: 

Frances Heman, b. September, 1854; d. October, 1855. 
Alice Ella, b. January I, 1856; d. November 21, 1863. 
Lucetta Caroline, b. May 14, 1859; d. November 19, 
1863. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 433 

Flora May, b. August 31, 1861; d. November 18, 1863. 
Minnie Alabama, b. December 16, 1864; d. July 22, 

1880. 
Robert Edward, b. August 6, 1867; d. March 8, 1868. 
Henrietta Mackay, b. January 24, 1869; teacher, Port- 
land, Ore. 
■Webster, b. October z, 1871; 1. old home, Vancouver, 
Wash. 
Elizabeth, 2d, b. February 17, i824;d. May 19, i 896, at Oshkosh, 
Wis.; m. James M. Olin, October 10, 1842; b. October I, 1820, 
Canton; 1. Oshkosh, Wis. Had two children: 

Frances A., b. August 25, 1845; 1. Oshkosh, Wis.; m. 
Richard E. Bennett, May 13, 1869; b. September 9, 
1838; d. February 9, 1902. Had four children: 

Carey L., b. July 27, 1870; d. December 8, 1889. 
Anah C, b. March 10, 1872; m. William A. Fair, 
October 3, 1894. Had two children: 

Catherine L., b. October 3, 1897. 

Robert B., b. September 23, 1899. 

Floy Elsie, b. December 4, 1873; d. September i, 

1875, ^^ Oshkosh. 
Ida May, b. May 2, 1875; teacher at Oshkosh. 
Millard M., b. September 20, 1850; 1. Lanark, 111.; m. 
Lulu May Reasoner, September 16, 1897, at Lanark, 111. 
No issue. 

SAMUEL B. ABBOTT, b. January 19, 1792, New Lebanon, N.Y.; 
d. July 6, 1878, Willoughby, Ohio; ni. Hadassa Post, b. February 13, 
1786, Dorset, Vt. ; d. September 29, 1867, Hopkinton. He was son of 
Seth Abbott. He worked some four years for Mr. Hopkins, when he married 
and moved on to a tract on the Turnpike, a mile and a half southwest of 
Hopkinton village, in 1814. An old map of Mr. Hopkins's shows that 
this "farm" was first booked to one Rockwell, whose betterments Mr. 
Abbott purchased, including a small clearing and a log house and barn. He 
in turn sold his betterments and rights to his brother-in-law, Elisha Risdon, 
in 1825, when he built the frame house next west of Phineas Durfey. He 
later built the house next west of this, where John Leach now resides. He 
hunted falls and winters as a business. On one of his trips he was with Asa 
Squire and Albert Dewey when they got lost. Mr. Dewey froze his foot 
so badly that it had to be amputated. Messrs. Abbott and Squire were com- 
pelled to cut boughs and whip him severely to keep him awake and moving 
till they could find their camp. His daughter, Mrs. Harriet Adsit, living at 
Perry, Ohio, is the sole survivor of the family. She has helped materially on 
several points in the preparation of this work. (See also Elisha Risdon's 
record.) Had seven children: 

Reuben P., b. June 23, 181 5; d. June 8, 1882, Willoughby, Ohio 
m. Betsey (Hornby) Pike, January 2, 1844; b. May 24, 1819 
d. September 15, 1847; m. 2d, Louisa .Covey, January 27, 1848 
d. October, 1880. Had one child by first marriage: 



434 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Robert S., b. September 12, 1847; 1. Perry, Ohio; m. 
Julia Ann Pearson, August z8, 1867, BlufFton, Iowa; b. 
October 4, 1851. His mother died at his birth, when his 
aunt Harriet cared for him, and now he is caring for her. 
Had five children: 

Ellen Jane.b. March 10, 1869; teacher, Painesville, 

Ohio. 
Reuben Isham, b. January 2, 1871, Bluffton; d. 

February 22, 1873. 
George Frederick, b. January 22, 1874, Dimond, 
Kan.; 1. Madison, Ohio; m. Esther Tyler, August, 
1899. Had two children: 

Julia Kstelle, b. January 26, 1901; d. June 

29, 1901. 
Gertrude Esther, b. July 14, 1902. 
Lucy Maria, b. November 4, 1876; 1. Perry, Ohio; 
m. Max Craine, December 29, 1896. Had two 
children: 

Alara, aged four years in 1902. 
Roger Paige, aged two years in 1902. 
Will Arvil, b. August 22, 1879; 1. Freedom Station, 
Ohio; m. Lilla Bradford, December 18, 1901. No 
issue. 
Gideon S., b. April 6, 1817; d. San Jos^, Cal., May 10, 1894; 
m. Eloise A. Miles, January I, 1843; d. San Jose, March 17, 1882; 
m. 2d, Caroline A. Brown; 1. Akron, Ohio. Attended at the old Acad- 
emy,Potsdam, was there in i 834, had a room on third floor in dormitory 
with small stove and table at ^5. 50 per term. At first it was an even 
struggle whether he or the bedbugs would hold the room. He be- 
came a Universalist minister, and later settled on the farm a half mile 
south of Jonah Sanford, where Orman Beecher now lives. His first 
wife wrote a book entitled " Personal Recollections and Essays." 
Had two children: 

Marion A., b. January 2, 1849; 1. San Jos^, Cal.; ni. Dr. 
Albert O. Hooker, September 19, 1 87 1, Montpelier, Vt. 
Had four children: 

Leda Verus, b. July i, 1872. 

Iva Eloise, b. January 19, 1874; 1. San Josd, Cal.; 

m. Joseph R. Prevost, June 12, 1900. 
Francis Albert, b. September 19, 1877. 
Ed^vin Davis, b. April 9, 1880; 1. San Jos^, Cal.; 
m. Vernia Moore, August 1 , 1900. Had two children: 
Gladys Eloise, b. May 2, 1901. 
Vernia Agnes, b. July 21, 1902. 
Francis L., b. April 12, 1850; d. December 30, 1868, 
Lawrence, Mich. He was a fine scholar and had he lived 
would have become a highly cultured man. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 435 

Lucy Maria, h. November 12, 18 18; d. May i6, 1900, at 
Painesville, O.; m. Sheldon Allen, January 4, 1855; d. February, 
1873. No issue. 
Harriet, b. September 20, 1820; 1. Perry, Ohio; m. Alvin Adsit, 
November 14, 1867, of Essex, N. Y. ; d. November 5, 1895. No 
issue. 
Sarah E., b. June 7, 1822; d. February 20, 1897, Willoughby, 
Ohio; m. Alvah Brovvnell, August, 1842; b. January 5, 1820; d. 
June 8, 1894. Had seven children: 
Martha C, b. 1843. 
James F., b. 1845. 
Celestia, b. 1846. 
Ellen C, b. 1848. 
George W., b. 1857. 
George F., b. 1862. 

Hattie M. All died young except Celestia, who died August 
29, 1863, and Hattie. She is Mrs. Elwie Stoddard of El- 
mira, N. Y., and has two sons: 

George Brownell, b. October 2, 1885. 
Gail Elwie, b. June 15, 1887. 
Jonathan B., b. May 27, 1825; d. September 3, 1848, from a 

kick in the stomach by a horse. 
Jerusha Jane, b. August 8, 1828; d. March 8, 1896, Willoughby, 
Ohio; m. George Newton in 1854; '• Willoughby, Ohio. Had 
one child: 

Jennie, b. April 28, 1860; m. Nathan Downing, December 
25, 1876; 1. Cleveland, Ohio. Had eight children: 

Lloyd N., b. June 25, 1878; m. Myrtle C. Johnson, 

September 9, 1 897. 
William N., b. April 2, 1880. 
George N., b. August 3, 1882; m. Grace L. Roe, 

January 16, 1902. 
Mabel J., born May 10, 1884; m. William A. 
Seaton, February, 1899. Had one child: 
Dorothy B., b. September 14, 1900. 
Harrison M., b. September 23, 1888. 
Bernice A., b. February 8, 1891. 
Esther H., b. February 13, 1893. 
Paul N., b. April 2, 1897. 

ELIPHALET BRUSH, b. November 12, 1781, Bennington, Vt.; d. 
January II, 1872; m. Polly Tomlinson, d. April 26, 1810; m. 2d, Me- 
linda Pier, February 14, 181 l; b. May 21, 1790; d. September 15, 1862. 
Mr. Brush was one of the six pioneers who came into Islington in 1802. He 
worked for Mr. Hopkins summers and went back to Vermont and taught 
school winter? at Vergennes and Ferrisburg till he had paid for his farm. Mr. 
Hopkins's old account book states that Mr. Brush began to work for him 



436 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

March 5, 1803. No doubt he came in with the settlers of 1803, as such 
employee, or came in with supphes at divers times during the year. It is 
tradition in the family that he drove the first ox team into town. If so, he 
must have done it in 1803 or possibly 1804. The old account book shows 
several ox teams in town in the latter year. He took up one hundred acres 
where his grandson, Charles H., now resides. His deed to it bears date Feb- 
ruary 25, 1 804. The story has come down that he desired later to get a farm 
near Caleb Wright's on a fine brook there, but others got ahead of him. He 
lived to the ripe age of ninety years and ten months. He had four brothers, 
all of whom lived to an advanced age. They held a reunion in Hopkinton 
June 10, 1870. The brothers were Justice R. W. Brush of Stockton, Cal., 
then a little over 79 years; Alexander of Vergennes, Vermont, 81 years; George 
of Montreal, 77 years ; Joseph of Hopkinton, 87 years ; and Eliphalet, 
89 years. They had not all before met in seventy-one years. Their 
combined ages aggregated four hundred and thirteen years. Mr. Brush was a 
highly respected citizen, of industrious habits and rugged Christian character. 
Had one child by first marriage and six by second marriage: 

John T., b. April 26, 1810; d. May 13, 1845; m. Sarah Farar. 
Had four children: 

George, b. December 15, 1838; d. March 28, 1902; m. 

Mary L. Loomas, b. February 4, 1858. Had two children: 

Carrie, b. December 9, 1875; m. H. T. Dudley; 

1. Indianapolis, Ind. 
Cora, b. May 13, 1878. 
Mary, d. aged fifteen years. 
Carrie, b. September 9, 1842; d. September 9, 1874; m. 

L. O. Putnam. 
John T., b. June i;, 1845; I.Indianapolis, Ind.; m. Mar- 
garet A. Ewart, b. December 26, 1855; d. June 9, 1888; 
m. 2d, Elsie B. Lombard, b. November 26, 1869. Mr. 
Brush has been very successful, has the largest clothing store 
in the state and is one of the baseball magnates of the country. 
Had two children by first and one by second marriage: 

Eleanor G., b. March 18, 1871; m. H. N. Hem- 
stead. Had one child: 

Gordon B., b. December 28, 1899. 
Adalade. 

Natalie L., b. January 15, 1896. 
James, b. March 3, 1813; d. June 17, 1832. 

Jane E., b. June 30, 1817; I. Potsdam, N. Y. ; m. Rev. Enos 
Wood. He was a most highly esteemed man and Presbyterian min- 
ister. He preached at Hopkinton for fifteen years, from 1845 to 
i860. 
Jason, b. January 21, 1822; d. May 25, 1891; m. Olivia Chitten- 
den, January i, 1856; b. November 8, 1830; d. September 7, 
1858; m. 2d, Annie P. Ayers, November 5, 1862; b. October 27, 
I 841; 1. Hopkinton. He was a tall man, courtly in bearing, intelli- 
gent, respected and influential in all town affairs. He attended the 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 437 

first Republican meeting ever held in the county, called by Preston 
King, and was first a good Whig and then a Republican to the end. 
In the Congregational Church he took an active interest. Had one 
child by first and two by second marriage: 

Ella O., b. May 6, l8;8; 1. Potsdam, N. Y.;/m. Arthur 
L. Bonney, May 25, 1881; b. July 17, 1854./ Had one 
child: ' 

George W., b. January 15, 1891. 
Charles H., b. November 4, 1866; 1. Hopkinton, N. Y. ;m. 
Jessie O. Colton, October 21, 1896; b. July 14, 1867, 
Frasburg, Vt. Had one child: 

Dorothy, b. December 22, 1899. 
Grace L., born January 17, 1869; 1. Potsdam; m. William 
L. Pert, November 10, 1892; b. April 11, 1865; d. De- 
cember 26, 1900. Had one child: 
Josephine, b. April 4, 1894. 
Henry, b. April 25, 1823; d. August 11, 1837. 
Lucretia M., b. April 25, 1826; 1. St. Paul, Minn;m. Jesse H. Pom- 
roy, November 12, 1858; b. October 23, 1821, Hopkinton; d. July 
31, 1900, St. Paul, Minn. Had two children: 

Linda Carrie, b. November 29, 1861; St. Paul, Minn.; m. 

James F. Jackson, June 4, 1885. No issue. 
Frank Brush, b. August 28, 1865; 1. St. Paul, Minn.; m. 
Emma C. Yerken, June I, 1886, Hudson, Wis. Had four 
children: 

Alice Lucretia, b. March 29, 1887. 
Jesse Herbert, b, November 30, 1889. 
Albert Brush, b. May 27, 1892. 
Francis Brush, b. August 6, 1897. 
Ella, b. August 5, 1832; d. April 22, 1855; single. 

AMASA BLANCHARD, Sr., m. Edna Norton. They came from 
Rutland, Vt., in 1803, as we know by Mr. Hopkins's old account book. 
They had twelve children, all of whom lived to be over fifty years of age, 
except one. The tract he took up was next east of Eliphalet Brush. He took 
a prominent part in all town matters. He and Mr. Risdon were hunting as- 
sociates for some years. His grown children must have been a welcome ac- 
quisition in the town. It has been impossible to get the record more completely 
than is here given. Had twelve children, but can find record of eleven only: 
Amasa, Jr., b. 1784; d. March 28, 1843; m. Lucy Hopkins, De- 
cember 24, 1804; b. 1785; d. October 28, 1873. She was a 
daughter of Isaac, brother of Roswell Hopkins, and was married by 
Asa Wheeler, J. P., of Vergennes, Vt., brother-in-law of Roswell. 
Had thirteen children: 

Isaac, b. January 22, 1806. 
Warren, b. June 19, 1808. 

Franklin, b. February 9, i8io; d. September 8, 1882; m. 
Freelove Thomas. Had three children: 



438 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Susan L., b. May 8, 1842; 1. Nicholville. 
Sally B., b. August 24, 1846; 1. Nicholville. 
Edna S., b. September 20, 1849; 1. Lawrence; m. 
Luther Cole. Had four children: 

Lavina, Frank, Amelia and Gordon. 
Sarah, b. September 30, 181 i; m. Lisaf Smith. 
Harriet, b. July 7, 181 3; m. William W. Dewey. 
Jane, b. December i, 1815; m. Loyal Atwood. 
James, b. December i, 181 7. 
Betsey, b. April 14, 18 19; m. Hiram Sheldon. 
Mary, b. August 6, 1821; m. William Wakefield. 
Fidelia, b. June 2, 1824; m. Albert Copeland. 
Lorenda, b. January 17, 1828; d. aged five. 
Lorenzo, b. December, 1830; d. at six months. 
Loretta, b. February 8, 1832 (Mrs. Daniel Emmons, Nich- 
olville). 
Burton. Left town early and nothing known of. 
Rivers. Left town early and nothing known of. 
Benjamin. Followed rafting on the St. Lawrence River. He drew 
his money from a Kingston bank and went back to the raft. When 
down near Cornwall a small rowboat got adrift. Mr. B. took off his 
coat, etc., and swam out to get it, leaving his watch and money on 
the raft. There was much suspicion that he was not allowed to get 
back on the raft or at least not given any help, and so drowned. His 
body was recovered by some Indians on a reward of $ i ; by his 
father. 
Edy, b. December 9, 1787; d. April 4, 1868; m. Aaron Warner in 

1805. (See his family. ) 
Anna, b. May 2, 1780; d. October 2, 1858; m. David Walker; m. 
2d, Richard Newton, b. October 10, 1785; d. October 24, 1868; 
1. on crossroad south from Lee Eastman's. Had two children by 
first and four by second marriage: 

David, m. and had three children: 

Louella, b. 1852; m. John Gillispie of Rhode Island. 
William, b. 1861; 1. Wisconsin; m. Sarah D. Ham- 
ilton. 
Sarah, b. 1863; d. ten years ago (1903). 
Roxie, family unknown; m. Erastus Hamilton; m. 2d, John 

Vebber. 
Benjamin, b. 1818; killed in war July, 1864. 
Hiram, b. May 1, 1820; d. January 2, 1893; m. Lovina 
Adams, December 7, 1843; b. March 4, 1824; d. November 
18, 1894. Had seven children: 

Merilla, b. October 3, 1844; d. September i, 1849. 
Lovina, b. December I, 1849; d. September 27, 
1886; m. Elijah Bundy, September 27, 1870. No 
issue. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 439 

Lovisa, 1. Parishville; m. Martin Hatch. Had four 
children: 

Carlisle, b. February 28, 1 870; m. Lula 
IVlcachani, December 8, 1897. Had one 
child: 

Corinne, b. February 15, 1901. 
Mary, b. July 14, 1874; ■"• William Jones, 
November 24, 1897. Had one child: 
Calista, b. March 23, 1901. 
Henry, b. August 30, 1876; m. Blanch 

Rivers, July 30, 1902. 
Alice, b. August II, 1878; m. Milton 
Brovvnson, December 27, 1899. Had two 
children : 

Dewitt and Beatrice. 
Velora, b. August 6, 1855; d. July 27, 1857. 
Henry, b. July 6, 1S58; d. November 29, 1879. 
Eva, b. August 6, i860; d. April 2, 1880. 
Melvin, b. October 15, 1863; 1. Hopkinton; m. 
Dora Courser, May 11, 1888. Had two children: 
Marion, b. November 6, 1 890; d. June 13, 

1895. 
Bernice, b. July 25, 1899. 
Warner, b. February 8, 1822; d. July 8, 1828. 
^A^arren, went west. 
Sophia, m. William Hamilton, neighbor of Richard Newton. Had 
four children: 

William, Darwin, Lucius and Luna. 
Hannah, m. Chauncey D. Thomas. (See his family.) 
Marilla, m. Joseph Clemonds. Had four children: 

Alva, Morse, Adaline (Mrs. Henry Cornish), Julia 
(Mrs. William Sexton). 
Sally, b. March 27, 1801; d. August 14, 1881; m. Samuel Wilson. 

(See his family.) 
Hiram, b. 1803; d. February 11, 1882, at Nicholville; m. Char- 
lotte Freeman in 1827; d. June 3, 1891, aged eighty-five. He was 
a good mechanic and millwright, and built the first mills at Hewit- 
ville, Colton and Duane, N. Y. He was the last to survive of the 
children. Had six children: 

Lorison, Hiram, Mortimer, Leonard, Sophronia 
and Losepta. 



440 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

JOSEPH BRUSH, b. September l8, 1783, Bennington, Vt. ; d. Janu- 
ary 18, 1879; m. Clarissa (Armstrong) Sheldon in 1814; b. 1782, Pawlet, 
Vt. ; d. October 6, 1868. She was the widow of Abraham Sheldon. (See 
his record.) Mr. Brush came into town in 1808. (See story of his early 
experiences among pioneer settlers. ) He lived to the advanced age of ninety- 
six years. Many people now living knew him well and all speak of him as a very 
genial, fine old man. He was a veteran of the War of 181 2. (See Eli- 
phalet Brush for reunion of the brothers.) Had two children: 

Joseph A., b. May 10, 1816; d. December 4, 1884; m. Ada- 
line Wright, September 12, 1842; b. February 5, i8i8; d. Febru- 
ary 25, 1897. No issue. Mr. B. was an active man in town 
affairs and held various positions. He had a fine farm across the road 
from his father, where he built a commodious residence. The farm 
is now owned by the Hurley brothers. 

George H., b. December 25, 1819; d. March iz, 1888, at Lamoille, 
111.; m. Caroline M. Morton; d. April 26, 1898, at Lamoille, 111. 
He kept the old homestead of Abraham Sheldon or rather the west 
part of it. He sold it about 1880 to Silas Haselton and went to 
Illinois. Had one child: 

Earl M., b. October 6, i860; 1. Chicago, III. 

NATHANIEL BALDWIN, b. 1776, Amherst, Mass.; d. 1826; m. 
Betsey M. Flint. Came from New Hampshire in 1811, selected what is 
known as the Dyer L. Merrill farm, made a little clearing in the unbroken 
forest, built a log cabin near where the present residence stands, went back to 
New Hampshire and came with his family in the spring or early summer of 
181 2. On his death his son Nathaniel, Jr., conducted the farm till 1843, 
when it was sold to Horatio N. Barnes. Had twelve children: 

Betsey, d. in Hopkinton; m. Orange Moon. Had three children: 

Mary Ann, m. an officer in the regular army and d. in 
Florida. 

Norman and James C. The latter at two years of age and 
on his mother's death was, by her act, adopted by Dr. 
Gideon Sprague. 
Nathaniel, Jr., b. August 19, 1805, in Litchfield, N. H.; d. Janu- 
ary 25, 1888, Albion, Iowa; m. Cynthia Hobart, April 13, 1833; 
b. 1807; d. December II, 1887. He was appointed administrator 
of his father's estate when twenty-one. He built a sawmill just south 
or back of the John C. Smith place on the Turnpike, but it proved a 
poor venture owing to a lack of water. In i 846 he bought a farm 
on the Mud Street road in Parishville, where he lived till 1857, 
when he moved to Potsdam. In 1863 he went to Iowa, where he 
prospered, dying at Albion, highly respected. His wife was a daugh- 
ter of Deacon Isaac N. Hobart of Lyme, N. H., but later of Hop- 
kinton. Had four children: 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 



44' 



Luman E., b. October 9, 1835, in Hopkinton; 1. Brook- 
lyn, N. Y.; m. Susan E. Vermilyea, December 3, 1867; b. 
November 25, 1847; d. April 14, 1885; m. zd, Marion 
Sill, April 14, 1888; b. February i, 1843. Enlisted 
August 9, 1862, at Ogdensburg, N. Y., in l6th Regiment. 
He was in twenty-two battles, slightly wounded at Chancel- 
lorsville, and also at Spottsylvania Court House. Discharged 
from izist Regiment, July 9, 1865, at Albany, N. Y. Had 
five children by first and two by second marriage: 

Frank E., b. March 10, 1869; m. Ervie Mc- 
Cutcheon, August, 1899. Had one child: 
Frank E., Jr., b. March 23, 1901. 
Isaac J. v., b. November 19, 1872. 
Alfred H., b. August 17, 1875; ™- Jennie Grundy, 
1896. Had one child: 
Emma E., b. March, 1898. 
Susan E., b. August 19, 1877; d. September 19, 

1877. 
William F., b. February i, 1881; m. Theresa 
Maner. Had two children: 

Mariam, b. January, 1900; d. February, 

1900. 
Samuel L., b. December 23, 1901 ; d. July, 
1902. 
Marian J., b. December 14, 1888; d. August 25, 

1890. 
Julia M. F., b. October 12, 1890. 
B. Frank, b. January 25, 1 839; d. December z8, 1894, 
Denver, Colo.;m. M. Elizabeth Anstead, May I, i860; m. 
2d, Emma Crowe. Enlisted in 1 6th Regiment and was 
wounded in battle near Burketsville, Md. He settled in 
Iowa and was long in the employ of the Chicago and North- 
western Railway Company. He had two daughters, Addie 
and Minnie, and is survived by only the latter, Mrs. Minnie 
Crandall of Denver, Colo. 
Alzina C, b. May 18, 1844; 1. Albion, Iowa; m. J. D. 
Armstrong, October 16, 1 861, of Cornwall, Ont. ; m. 2d, 
J. B. Cripps, January 25, 1872. Had two children by first 
and one by second marriage: 

J. Freddie, b. July 23, 1863; d. August 16, 1868, 

by accidental shooting. 
Cora C, b. November i, 1867; 1. Albion; m. F. 
H. Huntington, December 14, l 892; b. January 30, 
1863. Had one child: 

Carol, b. June 6, 1899. 
Clara C, b. November 30, 1874. 



y 



442 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Martha J., 1. Moville, Iowa; m. Henry Babcock, September 
20, 1863, Hogansburg, N. Y. Had nine children: 

Frank, Carrie, Harriet, Anna, Nellie, 
Charles, Martha, Benjamin and Clarence. 
William G., b. April 27, 1807, Bedford, N. H.; d. January 17, 
1892, Mount Hope, Ga. ; in. Martha G. Willis, b. August 10, 
1825, Foxborough, Mass.; d. May 14, 190Z, Chicago. They 
were married in Concord, N. H., August 2, 1846. Had eleven 
children: 

Edgar Frank, b. May 30, 1847, Concord, N. H.; 1. 
Chicago; m. Louisa Hazen, November 17, 1867; b. May 
12, 1846, Alburg, N. Y. Had five children: 

Lillian M., b. August 23, 1868; d. April 10, 1876, 

Chicago. 
Robert, b. February 20, 1871, Alburg; 1. Chicago. 
Lettie L., b. April 22, 1873; '■ Norfolk, N. Y.; 
m. Edgar G. Spottswood, June 3, 1891; b. 1863, 
Norfolk, N. Y. Had three children: 

Nettie L., b. February 24, 1893; d. Octo- 
ber 10, I 899. 
Mabel G., b. July 4, 1895, Lagrange, 111. 
Loretta M.,b. October 14, 1898, Lagrange, 
111. 
William, b. March 8, 1877, Alburg; 1. Chicago. 
Merton, b. December 20, 1879; d. March 21, 
1886, Chicago. 
Julia A., b. August 30, 1848, Concord, N. H. ; d. June 5, 
1900, in Chicago; m. Edwin S. Varnum, August 29, 1872; 
d. November, 1877, ""^ Sharon, Vt. Had two children: 
Mattie E., b. June 12, 1873, Deerfield, Mich; 1. 

Chicago. 
George H., b. April 28, 1875, Sharon, Vt.; 1. 
Chicago. 
Oscar W., b. January 12, 1850, Pierrepont, N. Y. ; 1. 

Chicago. 
Newton H.,b. May 13, 1851, Pembroke, N.H.;d. March 

6, 1888, in Chicago. 
Frederick W., b. June 3, 1853, Andover, N. H.; 1. Chicago; 
m. Marriette Wilson, September 3, 1876; b. February 24, 
1849, Sharon, Vt.; d. June I, 1900, in Chicago. Had one 
child: 

Elsie B., b. June 6, 1879, Sharon, Vt.;l. Chicago. 
Daniel W., b. September 24, 1854, Royalton, Vt. ; d. 

May 31, 1901, in Chicago. 
Mary M., b. April 5, 1857, Royalton, Vt.; d. November 2;, 

1858, at Hogansburgh, N. Y. 
Cora M., b. June z6, 1859, Hogansburgh, N. Y.;l. Illinois. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 443 

Laura T., b. October 22,1861, Lawrence, N. Y.;l. Chicago, 
111.; m. Charles M. Kemp, June i, 1880, Sharon, Vt. ; b. 
May 28, 1852, Momence, 111. Had three children: 

Mabel B., b. February 15, 1885; 1. Chicago, III. 
Maud L., b. August 20, 1888; 1. Chicago, 111. 
Earl Le Roy, b. March 12, 1893; 1. Chicago, 111. 
Mary Jane, b. February 15, 1864, Lawrence; 1. Chicago. 
Lillian M., b. May 21, 1866, Hopkinton; 1. Chicago; 
ni. David P. Caldwell, April 30, 1895; b. November 29, 
1854. Had three children: 

Daniel B., b. September 13, 1896. 
Winfield A., b. January 3, 1898. 
Dorathy L., b. June 19, igoi. 
Lorena, d. in Parishville; m. David Eastman. (See Samuel East- 
man. ) 
Nancy, d. in Parishville. 

Lyman, d. in Hopkinton; m. Sarah Post. Family e,\tinct. Had two 
daughters: 

Caroline and Emily. 
Alvin, b. February II, 181 5, in Hopkinton; d. April 23, 1852, in 
Stockholm; m. Sarah De Long, b. 1817; d. May 15, 1857. Had 
one child: 

Amos Alvin, b. December 23, 1851 ; 1. Brasher Falls, N. Y. ; 
m. Nancy Ann Church, October 20, 1873; ^- October 4, 
1853. He was born in Stockholm, lived in Ontario, Mich., 
and also in the eastern states, where he was superintendent and 
designer in several woollen mills. Since locating at Brasher 
Falls he has held the position of worshipful master nine years, 
president of Board of Education six years and justice of the 
peace twelve years. His business is that of printer, author and 
publisher. In the last twelve years he has published the fol- 
lowing works on designing and weaving: viz., "The Self-In- 
structor in Textile Designing," " A Treatise on Designing 
and Weaving," "The Loom Fixers' Manual" and "The 
Designers' Chart." Mr. Baldwin is a recognized authority in 
the art of textile designing, and his works have won an envi- 
able reputation. Had two children: 

Roscoe Reuben, b. June 2, 1876; d. April 10, 

1878. 
Bessie Maude, b. February 12, 1880, W. Eaton, 
N. Y. 
Caroline, b. 1817; d. 1840 at Massena; m. Samuel Clark; d. 1 864 1/ 
at Alexandria, Va. Had two children: 

Mary, b. 1836; d. March, 1865, Edwards, N. Y.; m. 
Daniel W. Sprague, January I, 1854; 1. Spragueville, N. Y. 
Had one child: . 

Fred Clark, b. November 10, 1859; <^- -April 15, 



444 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

/ Joseph Clark, b. April 4, 1839; 1. Massena Centre, N. Y. ; 
m. Mary F. Cramer, June 16, 1870; b. June z6, 1842. 
On the death of his mother and when only a few months old he 
was adopted by a Mr. Robinson, by which name he has since 
been known. He was in the Civil War and reached the 
rank of major, by which title he is still called. His only 
recollection of meeting his father was in finding him in his 
command during the war. Had three children: 

Mary Edith, b. November 26, 1871, Lyons, 
N. Y. ; 1. New York City; m. Alex. G. Mercer, 
June 6, 1899. Had one child: 

Alice Ruth, b. July 9, 1902. 
Alice Nelson, b. March 19, 1877; 1. Massena 

Centre. 
Clarence C, b. October 22, 1879. 
Philo, d. in Parishville. 

George H., b. January 2, 1822; d. March 19, i860, in Lawrence, 
N. Y.; m. Rhoda R. Osgood, April 18, 1850; b. October 12, 
1832; d. August 20, 1852; m. 2d, Nancy Burlingame, d. 1883. 
Child by first marriage: 

George R., b. April 30, 1852; 1. Dickinson Centre, N. Y. ; 
m. Ellen M. McComber, February 28, 1882; b. February 
22, 1852. Had three children: 

George Merton, b. December 6, 1884. 
Hattie Sophia, b. September 15, 1887. 
Frank P., b. February 21, 1893. 
Mary J., b. September, 1824; 1. Waterloo, Iowa; m. Dr. J. C. 
Corey; d. November, 1 893 ; incomplete. A very prominent physi- 
cian. 
Benjamin Frank, d. in Potsdam; m. Henrietta Wheeler (now Mrs. 
John J. Dutcher, Potsdam). 



''ABIJAH CHANDLER, b. 1762, E. Hartford, Conn.; d. November 
4, 1830; m. Sabra Mann, b. 1763; d. June 19, 1837. He was a 
son of Daniel and Violet Chandler of East Hartford, Conn. He and 
his brother Daniel opened a store at the outlet of Enfield Pond, near Lebanon, 
N. H., taking the goods there from East Hartford, but were not successful. 
Dr. Hough states that he and five others came into town from Lebanon in the 
fall of 1806. He selected a tract about half a mile northeast of the present 
village of Nicholville and on the northerly side of the Turnpike, which was then 
only a trail. Very likely he then built a cabin, since it is morally certain that 
he moved into town the following spring with his wife and children. It is 
tradition in the family that his youngest child, Polly, born December 28, I 805, 
was only six weeks old when he moved to town, which would show that he came 
in advance of the party stated by Dr. Hough. Dr. Hough states and it is also 
tradition in the town that she was the first white woman to settle in Chesterfield. 
When the Turnpike came to be laid out (no doubt following the old trail) it ran 
across the corner of his tract, leaving him a small triangular piece on the south- 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 445 

eriy side. To this he added, holding at one time the Rufus Alden (now Eli- 
jah Bibbins) farm, though never taking title to any land. His log house was 
on the northerly side of the road, nearly opposite the present Bibbins residence. 
After a little he built a frame house on the southerly side, where he lived till 
his death. Getting into difficulty owing to indorsement for others, his sons, 
Hiram and Lewis, took title in 1824 to the tract on the northerly side of the 
road and Rufiis Alden to that on the south side in 1836. Mr. Chandler at once 
took an active part in the affairs of Hopkinton and also in religious matters, be- 
ing one of the early organizers of the Baptist Church. He held various offices, 
as will be seen by a reference to the town records, and was evidently the fore- 
most man in that part of Hopkinton. He was a stone mason by trade and 
took charge of or assisted in the building of the stone gristmill at Nicholville 
in 1827. Had eleven children: 

Abijah, Jr., b. November 5, 1786; d. September 7, 1864; m. Olive 
Chaney, October 26, 1816; b. June 19, 1800; d. November 15, 
1842. He went to Portage, N. Y., in 1838, then Boston, N. Y., 
and died at the home of his son, Lucius D., in Concord, N. Y. Had 
nine children: 

Abijah B., b. September 27, 1817; d. 1873; "i- Elmira S. 
Smith, October 13, 1842. Had three children: 

Frances E., b. September, 1844; d. May 18, 1850. 
Olive E., b. November 16, 1849, Elkhorn. 
Jane A., b. January 2, 1852; d. 1866, Delavin, Wis. 
Olive H., b. January 9, l8zi; d. December z6, 1870; m. 

Rev. William A. Lighthall. No issue. 
George Hubbard, b. September 26, 1823; d. ; m. Lydia A. 
Dennis, June, 1848; m. 2d, Fanny A. Davenport, October 
II, 1850. Had nine children: 

Nelson, b. April 19, 1849; m. Hannah O. Early, 
April 22, 1875. Had four children: 
Clara Etta, b. July 15, 1876. 
Lydia W., b. August 28, 1878. 
Hannah O., b. July 17, 1880. 
William Nelson, b. June 28, 1882. 
Lydia A., b. November 14, 1852; d. May, 1895; 
m. P. De Lair, May 5, 1867; m. zd. Hector 
Urquhart, April 30, 1877. Had three children by 
first and five by second marriage: 

William, b. February 4, 1868. 

Clara Grace, b. September 22, 1869; d. 

December 28, 1888. 
Emma E., b. December 22, 1871. 
Jessie Dolena, b. September 17, 1879. 
Fannie May, b. November 11, 1881. 
Cristilla, b. 1884. 
Donald Ross, b. May, 1887. 
Lillian, b. April, 1890. 



446 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Frances Olive, b. July 6, 1854; m. Louis Perrault, 
October 11, 1867; d. August 26, 1902. Had two 
children: 

Mary Florence, b. September 11, 1868; 

1. Pittsburg, Pa.; m. Lew Raphel. 
Maud Olive, b. September 14, 1871; m. 
P. Emilio Crutte; 1. Butler, Pa. 
Orin A., b. February 14, 1856; 1. McDonald, Pa.; 
m. Lucy Bates, September 16, 1880. Had two 
children : 

Olive Cecil, b. January 7, 1882; d. 1900. 

Clara C. 
Mary A., b. March 29, 1858; 1. East Liverpool, 
Ohio; m. Smith Sechler, d. February 7, 1890; m. 
2d, William T. Davis, September i;, 1892. Had 
tour children by first and three by second marriage: 
Charley Clarence, b. August 5, 1878. 
Annie Pearl, b. May 13, 1883. 
George Smith, b. February 2, 1885; d. 

May 7, 1902. 
Mary Edwina, b. July 2, 1889. 
Frank Wesley, b. June 9, 189;. 
Ester Alice, b. November 13, 1897. 
Edwin Meacon, b. March 10, 1902. 
Clara C, b. September 20, i860; 1. McDonald, Pa.; 
m. H. Reddick; incomplete. Had five children; only 
three given: 

Lucius 'W., h. November 15, 1862; d. 

May 21, 1863. 
Harriet M., b. January 2, 1865; d. Octo- 
ber 13, 1875. 
Edwin A., b. December, 1868; 1. East 
Liverpool, Ohio; m. Martha E. McAllister, 
December 24, 1889. Had one child: 
Otto M., b. December 25, 1891. 
Clarinda S., b. June 24, 1825; d. May 5, 1871; m. Isaac 

Dennis of Pike, N. Y. No issue. 
Eunice A., b. August 26, 1827; d. March 3, 1857, Free- 
dom, N. Y. ; m. George N. Powell, November i, 1854. 
No issue. 
Lucius Daniel, b. September 6, 1829; 1. Springville, 
N. Y. ; m. Susan O. Fowler, November l, 1854. Had 
four children: 

Charles S., b. July 20, i860; d. April 15, 1866. 
Mary L., b. November i, 1865; 1. Springville, 

N. Y. ; m. Brown. No issue. 

Elmer A., b. December, 1867; 1. Buffalo, N. Y.; 
m. Maud Edsall. Had one child: 
Harold. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 447 

Arthur L., b. February 14, 1873; 1. Buffalo, N. Y. ; 
m. 
Amanda M., b. September 16, 1831; d. December 29, 

1853, Pike, N. Y. 
Frances A., b. February 18, 1834; d. luly 6, 1851, Boston, 

N. Y. 
Oscar F., b. September 8, 1837; d. April 29, 1850. 
Sabra, b. March 6, 1790; d. March 3, 1843; m. James Trussell, 
December, 1805;; d. 1843. Both died of a malignant fever (epi- 
demic) that desolated Nicholville that year, and were buried in the 
same grave. 
Amy, b. January 7, 1 79 1; d. December 3, 1868, Fond du Lac, 
Wis.; m. Heman Gray, b. August 21, 1787; d. October 31, 
1814; m. 2d, Joseph Stevens, b. July, 1789; d. June 9, 1857. 
Had two children by first and five by second marriage: 

Isaac C, b. June 29, 181 l; d. June 4, 1898; m. Mary 
Gray, November 22, 1838; d. July 28, 1843; m. 2d, 
Elizabeth P. Waste, January 8, 1845; d. March 2, 1890. 
Had two children by first and four by second marriage: 

Amy L., b. October 9, 1839; 1. Montana; m. 
Thomas Tyrrell. Had four children: 
Lizzie, Clara, Fred and Julia. 
Mary, b. July 26, 1843; 1. Plainfield, Wis.; m. 
Charles Lawton; m. 2d, John Estrum. Had four 
children : 

Minnie L., Warren L., Arthur L. 
and Jennie L. 
Irvin, b. July 5, 1847; 1. Ogdensburg, Wis.; m. 

Jennette M. Dean, January i, 1889. No issue. 
Martha, b. September 20, 1849; 1. Ogdensburg, 
Wis.; m. Seymour J. Colby, December 31, 1871. 
Had three children: 

Jennie, b. June 24, 1874; '^- -August 30, 

1881. 
Elma, b. November 18, 1877; d. October 

8, 1879. 
Ethil, b. June 12, 1889. 
Sarah Jane, b. December 13, i85i;d. November 
2, 1888; m. George Gray. Had one child: 

Oscar, b. July 25, 1887; adopted by his 

uncle Irvin. 

Lydia E., b. September 22, 1857; d. July 20, 1867. 

Lucina, b. August 21, 181 3; d. 1878, Fort Atkinson, Wis.; 

m. Eason Bacheller; d. December 19, 1883, Chilton, Wis. 

Had five children: 

Amy, b. May 3, 1839; 1. Ohlman, 111.; m. Rev. 
Phillips F. Gay. Had three children: 
Minnie, Frank and Flora. 



448 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON, 

Charles R.; wounded; d. a prisoner. 
Mary L., b. November 17, 1843; 1. Iron Mountain, 
Mich.; m. Andrew Crawford, d. January 21, 1899. 
Had six children. 

Hattie, b. May 10, 1862; 1. Portland, Ore.; 

m. Thomas E. Cone. No issue. 
Mamie, b. October 10, 1868; 1. Iron 
Mountain, Mich.; m. Albert H. Hooper. 
Had four children: 

George, b. March 31, I 89 1. 
Harold, b. February 15, 1893. 
William, b. July 25, 1895. 
Alice, b. January 21, 1897. 
Ida, b. December 29, 1 871; 1. Ontonagon, 
Mich.; m. Will E. Barber. 'Had four 
children: 

Irene, b. April 11, 1892. 
Andrew, b. May 18, 1894. 
Eugenia, b. August 20, 1896. 
Dorothy, b. June 21, I goo. 
Lottie, b. March 10, 1874; '• Chilton, Wis.; 

m. John C. Harper. No issue. 
Hazel, b. February 8, 1889; I. Iron Mt. 
Jesse, b. August 27, 1877; d. October 5, 
1877. 
Frank H., 1. Welcome, Wis. Had two children: 
Frank. 
Mary. 
Joseph, 1. Durand, Wis.; married. Had four 
children: 

Amy S., b. August 5, 1877; m. Arthur 

Holden. 
Eason O., b. February 13, 1882. 
Flora, b. June 3, 1885. 
Gilbert, b. February 8, 1889. 
Henry C, b. September 11, 1821; d. December 27, 1876, 

in Canton, Wis.; m. Pike; m. 2d, Laura Wilson, d. 

July 26, 1896, in Peru, Wis. Had four children: 

Coit, b. October 23, 1846; d. April 13, 1865; a 

soldier. 
Sarah E., b. May 7, 1850; 1. Eau Galle, Wis.; m. 
Wm. Cumpston, 1871. Had two children: 

Frank, b. February 17, 1872; 1. Eau Galle; 
m. Ira Vanderpool, December 25, 1896. 
Had one child: 
, Jessie, b. August 15, 1901. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 449 

Minnie, b. August i, 1873; 1. Eau Galle; 
m. James Vradenburg, May 1, 1894. Had 
one child : 

Blanch, b. August 2, 1898. 
Charles L., b. July 12, 1855, Brasher, N. Y.; 
1. Eau Galle; m. Mary Vradenburg. Had four 
children: 

Lottie, b. September 15, 1880; m. Edward 
Baskin, September 18, 1901. Had one child: 
Russell, b. September 5, 1902. 
Glenn, b. September 11, 1882. 
Herbert, b. November 10, 1885. 
Ernest, b. August 31, 1889. 
Sidney, b. August 17, 1857; d. August 27, 1873. 
Charles L., b. April 3, 1823; d. April, 1849. 
Jerusha, b. May 16, 1826; 1. Eau Claire, Wis.; m. Rob- 
ert Felton, April, 1850; d. October 21, 1880. Had four 
children: 

George W., 1. Quincy, 111. 

Charles S., b. August 8, 1852; 1. Eau Claire, Wis.; 

m. Henrietta Cummings, 1884. Had two children: 

Jessie, b. April 19, 1885; d. January 19, 

1895. 
Edward C, September 18, 1891. 
Adelbert A., b. October 24, 1854; 1. Eau Claire, 
Wis.; m. Almerta Roberts, May 5, 1884. Had 
eight children: 

Luman R., b. August 23, 1886. 
Floyd H., b. April 15, i888. 
Harry I., b. March 6, 1889. 
Roy W., b. November 4, 1890. 
Rafter S., b. February 19, 1892. 
Gertie B., b. November 26, 1894; d. 1895. 
Harold G., b. November i, 1897. 
Adelbert, b. September 7, 1900. 
Hattie, b. August I, 1862; 1. Eau Claire, Wis.; m. 
George W. Pond, November 24, i88o. Had five 
children: 

Kathryn, b. August 12, 1881. 
George A., b. February 20, 1886. 
Robert W., b. July 30, 1890. 
Margaret E., b. January i, 1898. 
Raymond, b. March 30, 1902. 
Sarah A., b. June 9, 1828; d. November 30, 1882, Mas- 
sena, N. Y. ; m. James Forsyth, February, 1849; m. 2d, 
William Carvill. Mr. Forsyth died in a rebel prison at 
Richmond, Va. Had five children by first and one by 
second marriage: 



450 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Charlotte N., b. February 26, 1850; 1. Massena 
Centre, N. Y. ; m. Nathan H. Denison, November 
7, 1877. Had three children: 

Laurens A., b. July 19, 1879. 
Iran R., b. October lo, i88z. 
Rilan S., b. November 4, 1884. 
Margaret R., b. May 7, 1853; 1. Port Dover, 
Ont. ; m. William Stamp, December, 1876. Had 
four children: 

Roy, b. July 7, 1879. 
Earl, b. July, 1883. 
Bessie, b. September 27, 1886. 
Vera, b. July 5, 1893. 
Lucina, b. March 22, 1855; d. January 8, 1899. 
Walter J., b. December 21, 1858; 1. South Shore, 
S. D.; m. Mary Farnham. Had four children: 
Sarah, Elsie, Minerva and ^A^alter. 
Robert A., b. September 21, 1 86 1; d. October 20, 

1891. 
William E.. b. April i, 1868; !. Nyando, N. Y.; 
m. Lottie Hepburn, November 19, 1892. Had one 
child: 

Robert, b. August 14, 1894. 
Heman G., b. October 2 1, 1830, Canton, N. Y. ; d. 
March 17, 1901; m. Jane M. Campbell, April 8, 1857; 1. 
Fond du Lac, Wis. Had six children: 

Clayton C, b. May 19, 1858; 1. Sebastapol, Cal.; 
m. Mrs. Amanda McNutt, March 6, 1896. No 
issue. 
Alta B., b. February 14, i860; 1. Santa Barbara, 
Cal.; m. John R. Purdy, May 9, 1882; d. Febru- 
ary 7, 1900; m. 2d, J. W. Miller, June 4, 1902. 
No issue. 
Dr. Frank Tyron, b. March 4, 1867; 1. Mt. Pleas- 
apt, Iowa; m. Emma K. Griffin, November 26, 
1896. No issue. 
Fred H., b. December 18, 1868; drowned August ;, 

1874. 
Birdie Emily, b. June 30, 1873; d. May 7, 1891. 
Claude H., b. November 21, 1876; m. Bertha 
Folts, August 27, 1901. Had one child: 
Teah Jane, b. August, 1902. 
Sophia, b. March 12, 1793; d. 180;. 

Lemuel, b. May 10, 1796; d. April 20, 1877, Nicholville; m. 
Rosina O. Brown, February 9, 18 18; b. August 6, 1801; d. April 
14, 1851; m. 2d, Harriet Squire, March 15, 1859; '^- H'^d seven 
children: 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 451 

Mary R., b. December 27, 1818; d. August 29, 1878; m. 
Titus Simonds, November, 1840; b. July 11, 1816, Shel- 
don, Vt.; d. May II, 1896. Had four children: 

Caroline C, b. March 17, 1845; 1. Southern Pines, 
N. C; m. Smith S. Thomas, September 13, 1864. 
Had five children: 

Franklin D., b. June 12, 1866; d. March 

17, 1894. 
Flora A., b. September 4, 1868; d. July 23, 

1893. 
Bertha M., b. October 8, 1877; d. May 

25, 1895. 
Agnes R., b. September 26, 1879. 
Arthur J., b. December 15, 188 1. 
Jerome A., b. June 15, 1849; 1. Potsdam, N. Y. ; 
m. Eleanor L. Wright, June 19, 1883. Had one 
child: 

Mildred W., b. December 13, 1885. 
Jennie A. E., b. March 15, 1858; 1. Denver, 
Colo.; m. Clinton G. Hickey, January 31, 1885. 
Had four children: 

Ethelwyn E., b. March 14, 1886; d. No- 
vember 10, 1 89 1. 
Muriel M., b. July 11, 1887; d. November 

14, 1891. 
Harold L., b. November 15, 1892, at Den- 
ver, Colo. 
Dorothy S., b. February 17, 1895, at Den- 
ver, Colo. 
Olive M., 1. Hopkinton; m. A. A. Atwood. (See 
Phelps family.) 
L. Henry, b. June 23, 1821 ; d. 1895, San Diego; m. 

Caroline Clark, December, 1852. No issue. 
Ann Eliza, b. August 6, 1823; d. June 29, 1858; m. 
James Brownell. No issue. He kept hotel at N. Law- 
rence, Norwood, N. Y., etc. 
Horatio, b. February 3, 1827; d. December 24, 1901, 
Keswick, Cal. ; m. Malvina O'Neill, 1858. Had six chil- 
dren: 

Edwin A., b. i860; 1. Red Bluff, Cal.; m. Maud 
B. Gardner, I 888. Had three children: 
Earl, b. 1889. 
Leo T., b. 1891. 
Velma M., b. 1898. 
Minnie, b. 1863; 1. Hood River, Ore.; m. Homer 
M. Wood, 1886. Had three children: 
Homer, b. 1887. 
Horatio T., b. 1890. 
Harold O., b. 1891. 



452 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Lemuel, b. 1866; 1. Palmer, Ore. 
^Al'a^ren, b. 1870; I. Almeda, Cal.; m. Alice Jolly- 
mour, 1893. Had three children: 
Raymond W., b. 1894. 
Genevieve A., b. 189;. 
Gertrude T., b. 1897. 
May F., b. 1878; 1. Sacramento; m. Wallace W. 

MacFarland 190Z. 
Alma C, b. 1880; 1. Sacramento. 
Jerome P., b. March 9, 1832; d. August 25, 1848. 
Benjamin F., b. May 5, 1834; d. May 20, 1842. 
Clarissa R., b. October 20, 1840; d. March 3, 1848. 
Harry, b. February 14, 1798; d. September 19, 1872; m. Dolly 
Ferris of Williston, Vt., March 5, 1825; b. September 17, 1801. 
Had six children: 

Hector, b. March 6, 1826; d. March 9, 1832. 
Helen M., b. March 2, 1830; d. September 25, 1892; m. 
Edson J. Wilson, May I, 1851; b. March 4, 1829; d. 
September i, 1894. Went to California in 1854 and was 
very successful. (See Samuel Wilson family.) 
Frederick B., b. July 17, 1832; 1. Vacaville, Cal.; m. 
Rosalia Ellithorpe, b. May z, 1839; d. May 2, 1869; m. 
2d, Susan L. Brock in 1874; b. August 28, 1852. On 
September 15, 1852, he started for California by way of the 
Isthmus of Panama, which he mostly crossed on foot. He 
worked over two years in the mines at Shasta, Cal., then for 
a time in a soda factory at Shasta City, and then he and 
cousin Horatio run a store and stage line at Horsetown. In 
1861 he sold out to his brother T. Harry, and bought the 
Empire Livery and Sales Stables in Shasta City. While in 
Shasta he was twice elected county treasurer. In 1870 he 
went into the lumber business at a place now called Elniira. 
He has a fine farm near Vacaville. Had two children by 
first and four by second marriage: 

Anna S., b. October 7, i860; 1. Vacaville; m. Pro- 
fessor James F. Duncan, b. February 23, 1857. No 
issue. 
Harry D., b. January 10, 1864; 1. Vacaville; m. 
Jessie M. McCrory, b. April 28, 1869. Had six 
children: 

Rosalia C, b. June 27, 1890. 
Russell R., b. September 26, I 89 1. 
Helen Ruth, b. March 26, 1893. 
Harry D., Jr., b. November 9, 1898. 
Lloyd McCrory, b. March 25, 1900. 
Son, b. August 6, 1902. 
Edson J., b. April 4, 1875; d. October 7, 1893, 
by accidental discharge of gun. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 453 

Ellen, b. October 7, 1876; d. November zo, 1876. 
Frederick B., Jr., b. October 3, 1878. 
Walter W., b. October 22, 1880. 
Infant Son, d. April, 1833. 

Marion W., b. July 2, 1837; d. February 2, 1900; m. 
Aruna H. Bronson, September 22, 1859; '• Wintero, Cal. 
Had five children: 

Frankie, d. age four years. 

Flora, m. Thomas McLeod, 1878. Had three chil- 
dren: 

Ethel, Earl and Fred. 
Girl, b. October, 1862; m. Joseph Young. Had 
two children: 

Walter, b. May, i88z. 
Herbert, b. May, 1887. 
Rose C, b. October, 1867; m. Lee Stiltz, 1892. 
Had one child: 
Marion. 
Mamie, b. October, 1873; m. Eben Cheetham. 
Had three children: 

Ruth, Myron and Lawrence. 
T. Harry, b. December 13, 1839; 1. San Francisco, Cal.; m. 
Frances A. McCargar in 1879; d. May 11, 1884. He 
went to California at the age of eighteen, and was in the 
livery business at Horsetown till 1 861. He then was in 
business at Vallejo, Cal., Virginia City, Nev., St. Louis, 
Mo., Oakland, Cal., Portland, Ore., and San Francisco, 
Cal. He is now retired from active business. No issue. 
Clarissa, b. March 28, 1796; d. June 24, 1 83 1; m. Ebenezer 
Frost, April 28, 1817; b. October 9, 1790; d. January 26, 1863. 
He built and conducted a trip hammer shop in Hopkinton village 
from 181 5 to 1820. (See record of his family.) 
Philo C, b. September 9, 1800; d. May 9, 1883; m. Nancy M. 
Castle, December 31, 1822; d. January 23, 189;. They kept 
hotel in North Lawrence and other places, when they returned to 
Nicholville and built the last house east on Church Street, north side, 
now owned by L. C. Chandler. Had seven children: 

Adeline, b. October 10, 1823; d. September, 1901; m. 

Philo Abbott, September i, 1842. (See his family.) 
Edgar, b. May 14, 1825; d. December 21, 1825. 
Loraine S., b. June 3, 1827; d. October i, 1847, Nichol- 
ville; m. Alonzo Greene, December 5, 1844; b. May 5, 
1812; d. Had two children: 

Eva L., b. August 28, 1845; 1. Quincy, 111.; m. 
Charles P. Hyde, September 28, 1881; d. June 
20, 1884, Nicholville. No issue. 
Alonzo C., b. July 3, 1847; 1. Quincy, 111.; m. 
Mrs. Mary Richards, January, 1 87 1; d. August 5, 
1895. No issue. 



454 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Eleanor M., b. May 24, 1829; d. Jane 28, 1829. 
Rosamond C, b. September 13, 1831; d. October 18, 

1831. 
Frances N., b. August 19, 1834; 1. Quincy, 111. 
Ellen M., b. January 28, 1838; d. June 14, 1842. 

Hiram, b. October 10, i8oi; d. June 27, 1869; m. Lucinda Peck. 
He lived on the home place till the death of his parents and in his 
later years in the first house east of Depot Street. Had three children: 
Lorenzo, b. August 13, 1834; d. January i, 1894; m. 
Ellen Partridge, March II, 1854; 1. Holliston, Mass. He 
enlisted as a private in Co. H, 1 06th Regiment and was ad- 
vanced to lieutenant. He died in Soldiers' Home, Hamp- 
ton, Va. Had two children: 

Frank L., b. July 19, 1856; 1. Newark, N. J.; m. 
Calista P. C. Sanford, January 14, 1883. Had two 
children: 

Rose E., b. June 27, 1885; d. June 10, 

1898. 
Grace C, b. March 18, 1889. 
Ellen L., b. September 4, 1859; m. Edward E. 
Leonard, September 7, 1876. Had two children : 
Bertha E., b. April 7, 1879; d. May 4, 

1879. 
William F., b. December 28, 1885. 
Lewis P., b. October 11, 1836; 1. Malone, N. Y. ; m. 
Phebe Hall, April 22, 1 858; m. 2d, Maria Beardsley. En- 
listed in Co. H, 1 06th Regiment, and served his foil time. 
Was in trade in Nicholville some years. Had one child : 
Mabel. 
Luman C, b. November 17, 1840; 1. Nicholville; m. Amy 
Weller, January, 1863. No issue. 
Lewis, b. September 16, 1804; d. February 8, 1866; m. Orinda 
Beecher, b. August 14, 1815; d. May 12, 1894. She was a 
daughter of Austin and Sally Beecher of New Milford, Conn. Mr. 
Chandler built a house on the southerly side of the Turnpike in Nichol- 
ville, a quarter of a mile east, now owned by Byron Reed. Had four 
children: 

Flora A., b. November 23, 1840; d. June 21, 1851. 
Emily F., b. July 24, 1843; 1. Nicholville; m. E. Allen 
Wood, January 15, 1 868. Had four children: 

Benjamin W., b. November 9, 1868; m. Nellie 
McClellan, December 17, 1892. Had one child: 
Emily, b. December 6, 1896. 
Hiram L., b. December 6, 1870. 
Alice Viola, b. July 15, 1873. 
Grace Towne, b. June 25, 1875. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 455 

Clayton A., b. October 6, 1847; d. June 29, 1877; m. 
Alma Hall, August 23, I 869. Had two children: 
Flora L., b. August 29, 1872. 
Mabel L., b. May 10, 1875. 
Henry B., b. September 10, 1850; m. Julia M. Preston, 
September 5, 1877. Had one child: 

Anna Stella, b. August 23, 1878. 
Polly, b. December 28, 1805, Lebanon, N. H.; d. September 8, 
1894; m. Otis Farrar; b. June 14, 1791, Townsend, Mass.; d. 
August 25, 1875. Had seven children: 

Julia, b. May 8, 1828; d. December, 1879; m. Alonzo 
White, February 28, 1850; b. November i, 1822; d. 
October i, 1883. Had three children: 

S. Olin, b. July 10, 1855; d. January 4, 1883, 

Denver, Colo. 
Flora M., b. May 13, i860; d. June 25, 1863. 
Flora E., b. April 21, 1864; 1. Ithaca, N. Y.; m. 
Professor Frank D. Boynton, June, 1886. Had 
three children: 

Frank D., Jr., b. February 14, 1896. 
Barbara, b. February 14, 1896. 
Paul W., b. November 5, 1897. 
Catharine, b. September 14, 1829; d. September I, 1863; 
m. Mark White, Esq., d. September 6, 1869; lawyer and 
postmaster at Nicholville. Had one child: 

Ella K., b. June 15, 1859; 1. Nicholville; m. Azro 
L. Blake, November 3, i8gi. Had one child: 
Winona, b. September 9, 1894. 
Amanda, b. December 29, 1830; I. East Knox, Me.; m. 

Sanford Smith of Dickinson. No issue. 
Otis, b. January 9, 1833; 1. East Knox, Me.; m. Charlotte 
Kimpton; m. 2d, Calista Chase. Had four children by first 
and two by second marriage: 

Elsie, b. December 31, i860; 1. La Crosse, Wis.; 
m. E. Smith, La Crosse, Wis. Had one child: 
Lark. 
Lillian, b. January 7, 1863; 1. Providence, R. I.; m. 
W. Hayden of Providence, R. I. Had one child: 
Belle. 
William, b. November 16, 1864; 1. Salt Lake City. 
J. Burton, b. January 24, 1868; 1. Fort Jackson; m. 
Cora Ober. Had two children: 

Mildred, b. March 31, 1889. 
Lillian, b. March 6, 1896. 
Maud, b. April 3, 1880; 1. East Knox, Me.; m. W. 
F. Wentworth, November, 1898. Had one child; 
Mabel E., b. April 9, 1900. 
Myrtle, b. August 3, 1884; 1. East Knox, Me. 



456 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Columbus, b. April i6, 1836; 1. Dickinson Centre; m. 
Laura Tilden. Served in 96th New Yoric Volunteers for four 
years. Had seven cliildren: 

Bertha, b. April 25, 1872; 1. Worcester, Mass.; m. 
James Loveland. Had one child: 
Walter, b. June 18, 1892. 
Ida, b. February 1, 1874; 1. Boston, Mass. ; m. How- 
ard Carey. Had two children: 
Ralph, b. May 13, 1900. 
Howard, b. October 29, 1902. 
Milton, b. August 23, 1876; I. Dickinson, N. Y. 
Martha, b. June 22, 1878; 1. Worcester, Mass.; m. 
Levi Barton. Had two children: 

Forest, b. February 16, 1 90 1. 
Lester, b. September 30, 1902. 
Lee, b. November 8, 1880; 1. Dickinson Centre, 

N. Y. 
Carl, b. Feburuary 24, 1886; 1. Dickinson Centre, 

N. Y. 
Anna, b. November 4, 1889; 1. Dickinson Centre, 
N. Y. 
Emily, b. April 23, 1839; 1. Milwaukee, Wis.; m. Chase 
Roys, July 30, 1862; 1. Washington, D. C. Both were 
teachers in Washington, D. C. Had nine children: 

Lawrence P., b. June 14, 1863; 1. Carthage, 
N. Y. ; m. Jennie Servis. Had one child: 
Leland P., b. March 11, 1891. 
Frank D., b. September 18, 1866; 1. Washington, 
D. C; m. Daisey Mobley in 1887. Had one child: 
Maggie, b. 1888; d. 1889. 
Fred T., b. March 10, 1868; 1. Washington, D. C; 
m. Mary Lanham in I 891. Had two children: 
Lawrence P., b. March 10, 1894. 
Frank S., b. April 11, 1902. 
Filius Q., b. December 9, 1869; d. October 18, 

1871. 
Rose, b. December i 9, I 870; d. December 18, I 87 I . 
Nellie, b. October 13, 1874; 1. Milwaukee, Wis.; 
m. David H. Carr, October 29, 1892. Had five 
children: 

Nettie Belle, b. July 24, 1893, Washington, 

D. C. 
Emily May, b. August 30, 1895, Washing- 
ton, D. C. 
David 'Willie, b. November 2, 1896, Wash- 
ington, D. C. 
Mary Blanch, b. April 25, i 899, Milwaukee. 
Willford W., b. November 3, 1900, Mil- 
waukee. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 457 

Nettie, b. October 13, 1874; 1. Milwaukee; m. 
Clarence A. Harding. Had five children: 

Nellie D., b. January 7, 1894, Washington. 
Clarence C, b. July z, 1896, Washington. 
Chase R., August zi, 1898, Milwaukee. 
Merville A. , b. January 13,1 900, Milwaukee. 
Gladys P., b. May 30, igoz, Milwaukee. 
Carrie, b. May 19, 1876, Washington, D. C; d. 

1883. 
Julia, b. March 6, 1880; d. February Z7, 1891. 
Carrie, b. November 9, 1841 ; 1. Nicholville, N. Y. ; m. Mark 
White, January z8, 1868; d. September 6, 1869. No 
issue Uving. He was appointed postmaster at Nicholville, 
April 23, 1861, and on his death his wife was appointed to 
the same office and held it for very nearly twenty years. 

DAVID COVEY, d. October zz, 1837; m. Lynda Post. He was mar- 
ried in Vermont and first settled on Madrid road in Potsdam in 1 804. He 
came to Hopkinton about 1807 and lived in a log house on north side of the 
road some twenty rods west of the present residence of John Leach, being 
part of the Samuel Abbott farm. He afterwards took up a tract a half mile west 
of this, now owned by Michael Conner. His house there was a log one 
and stood a few rods east of the present house. He and wife both died at 
this place. No trace of either home remains. He, Elisha Risdon, Samuel 
B. Abbott and Ira Smith married sisters. (See sketch among settlers. ) Had 
ten children: 

Gilbert, b. 1805; d. August 4, 1853; m. Lucinda Belong, October 
18, 1829; b. January, i8iz; d. July Z9, 1892. Mr. Covey was 
the first male child born in Potsdam. Had twelve children: 

Marion R., b. November z8, 1830; d. March Z9, 1900, 
Belleville, N. Y. ; m. Daniel H. Chapman, December zo, 
1848; d. April 26, 1895. Had two children: 

Carrie D., b. June 17, 1855; 1. Belleville, N. Y.; 
m. William B. Doane, June 14, 1876. Had two 
children: 

Helen Marion, b. March 4, 1887. 
Daniel W^illiam, b. July 6, 1895. 
Henry Herbert, b. May 2, 1863; 1. Belleville; rn. 
Helen S. Sprague, January 4, 1889. Had two 
children: 

Niles Henry, b. July 14, 189 1. 
Orren Daniel, b. October 17, 1897. 
Edwin R., b. October 6, 1832; d. June 12, 1890, New 
Richmond, Wis.; m. Cordeha A. Billings, January i, 1857; 
1. Roberts, Wis. Was a member of Co. E, io6th New 
York Volunteers. Had one child: 

George Kirk, b. September 11, 1857; d. April 12, 
1870. 



458 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Louisa Helen, b. August 2, 1834; d. July 14, 1841. 
Charles Carroll, b. March 10, 1836; d. August 12, 1865, 

Potsdam; single. 
Elvira L., b. January i8, 1838; d. in Dartford, Wis.; m. 
William H. Morgan, November 29, i860; m. 2d, Richard 
Cave. Had one child: 

Carrie Marion, 1. Billings, Mont.; m. Charles 
Chaffee. Had two children: 
Marion and Miles. 
David Martin, b. March 14, 1840; d. December 26, 1844. 
Martha H., b. April 4, 1842; 1. Belleville, N. Y.; m, Os- 
, good Ingraham, November 7, 1861; d. April 8, 1896. 

Mary Ellen, b. April 4, 1842; d. April 3, 1843. 
Henry Gilbert, b. November 28, 1844; d. April 22, 1885, 
Norwood, N. Y.; Co. A, 60th New York Volunteers; m. 
Julia Dufur; d. ; m. 2d, Anna Rexford, November 13, 1870; 
1. Springfield, Mass. Had one child by first and two by 
second marriage: 
Clara. 

Mary E., b. February 10, 1872; 1. Utica, N. Y.; 
m. W. M. Hubbard, February 28, 1893. Had 
two children: 

M. Henry, b. March i, 1896. 
William Francis, b. June 28, 1901. 
Frances, b. March 22, 1873; 1. Springfield, Mass.; 
m. C. P. Staunton, December 20, 1888. Had 
three children: 

Sarah Winifred, b. March 21, 1890. 
Arthur Clifton, b. April 23, 1892. 
Lee Ralph, b. September 13, 1894. 
Mary Esther, b. November 2, 1846; 1. Potsdam, N. Y.; 
m. Thomas Riley, June 8, 1876. Had five children: 

Fred W., b. November 6, 1877; m. Elizabeth 
Pelno, April 19, 1899. Had one child: 

Marion Esther, b. November 22, 1901. 
Mary Louise, b. July 29, 1879. 
Kittie Augusta, b. September 25, 1882; d. March 

26, 1888. 
William Thomas, b. June 26, 1884; d. August 

8, 1885. 
Charles Gilbert, b. October 20, 1885. 
George M., b. August 30, 1849; d. May 26, 1854. 
Frances M., b. July 21, 1852; 1. Belleville, N. Y. ; m. 
Seward Church, February 24, 1870; 1. Belleville. Had 
one child: 

May, b. March 24, 1881. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 459 

Julia A., m. Carlos Humphrey. He had a blacksmith shop at Fort 
Jackson and went west. Nothing has since been heard of them. 

Solon, d. in New Orleans County, 1836, single. 

Cautius ClimetUS, b. October 15, 1 8 10; d. November 17, 1852; 
m. Mary A. Hamlin, b. Bridgeport, Vt., February 6, 1814; d.' 
November 22, 1887. He settled and practised law in Marietta^ 
Ohio, and stood well as a lawyer and politician. For a time he was 
the antagonist of Salmon P. Chase. He was twice elected state sen- 
ator from the fourteenth district of Ohio, and was such at the time of 
his death. He was a passenger on the steamer " Buckeye Bell" on 
the Muskingum River when its boiler exploded and he was killed by 
the explosion or drowned. Of their five children only Kate and Mary 
survived childhood: 

Kate, b. June 16, 1842; m. Captain John Ticknor; 1. 
Montague, Mass.; m. 2d, B. F. Miner of Montague, Mass. 
Captain Ticknor was killed at the battle of Gettysburg. Had 
three children: 

Karl, Birch and Lewis. 
Mary, b. February 14, 1852; m. Hon. John M. Barlow, 
New Lisbon, Wis. ; I. New Lisbon, Wis. 
Mary E., b. August 22, 1814; d. November 6, 1856, at Hopkin- 
ton; m. Isaiah B. B. Hale, October 12, 1841; b. fuly 6, 18 16, in 
Vermont; d. November 6, 1859, Wernerville, Wis. He taught 
school in the Durfey district several terms. They were married at 
McConnellsville, Ohio, moved to Wheeling, Va., for seven or eight 
years, then to Marietta, Ohio, till 1854, and then to Werner, Wis. 
He was a lawyer but soon went into business and politics. Had six 
children: 

Virginia E., b. July 6, 1842; d. November 28, 1872. 

Plainview, Minn.; m. D. M. Davies. 
William E., b. May 11, 1845; m. Ella C. Sutherland. 

He is a successful lawyer in Minneapolis, Minn. 
Charles R., b. December 11, 1846; 1. Merrill, Wis.; 

married. 
Mary, b. 1850, at Williamsport, Va. ; d. in infancy. 
Alice N., b. March 7, 1852; d. 1883, Plainview, Minn.; 

m. James Dodge. 
Frederick C, b. June 20, 1856, at Werner, Wis.; d. 1856. 
Amanda, m. Aaron Vanderker. It has been impossible to get any 

trace of her or her family. 
Martin H., b. October 15, 1818; d. October 25, ^863, Stockholm; 
m. Mary A. Glidden, February 26, 1843; b. August 19, 1820; I. 
Granton, Wis. Had two children: 

Martin, Jr., b. December 28, 1843; d. September 29, 
1888; m. Mary MacCumber, July 5, 1865. Had five chil- 
dren: 

Amy, b. June 20, 1866; 1. Marshfield, Wis.; m. Jo- 
seph C. Marsh, July 21, 1885. Had two children: 



460 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Martina, b. September z8, 1888. 
Joseph, Jr., b. May 6, igoo. 
Alice, b. October 2Z, 1868; 1. Phillips, Wis.; m. 
Nathan E. Lane, November 6, 189 1. Had two 
children: 

Lyde, b. April 6, 1893. 
Gladys, b. December 29, 1 90 1. 
Anna, b. February zz, 1 87 1; 1. Spokeville, Wis.; m. 

John Grasser, December 24, 1892. No issue. 
Viola E., b. January 6, 1872; 1. Withee, Wis.; m. 
W. C. Tufts, December 20, 1895. Had two chil- 
dren: 

Ruth A., b. March 16, 1897. 
Katharin M., born October 2, 1901. 
Edward V., b. June 8, I 88 I. 
Mary Ellen, b. June 20, 1858; 1. Granton, Wis.; m. Cas- 
sius H. Ide, October 29, 1900. No issue. 
j/ Adaline, b. 1824; d. July 22, 1865, Caldwell, Ohio; m. James M. 
Hull, June 12, 1849; d. March 20, 1873. Had four children: 
Mary A., b. April 8, 1850; 1. Bellefourche, S. D.; m. John 

W. Caldwell. 
Linda Post Hull, b. July iz, iSjz; 1. Spearfish, S. D.; 

m. Hiram Dotson. 
Nora E., b. January Z4, 1855; 1. Chillicothe, Ohio; m. 

Edward Ogden. 
Cautius C, b. March Z7, 1857; 1. Spearfish, S. D.; m. 
Elizabeth E. Yeman; d. August 15, 1894. Had four 
children: 

Eleanor Adaline, b. March zg, 1881. 
James Frederick, b. July 19, 1883. 
Mary Emma, b. November 30, 1886. 
Clifford Clayton, b. October 15, 1893. 
George, b. August 6, 18Z5; d. Huntsville, Mo., August 21, 1 88 1; 
m. Martha F. Bradley, July 30, 1854; b. March 13, 1838; 1. 
Huntsville, Mo. He enlisted in the Mexican War and served for a 
time. He came back to Hopkinton on a brief visit, and after leaving 
nothing was heard of him till December, 1 90 1 . He took for some 
reason the name of Edward George St. Clair, and learned the trade 
of printer and pressman at Cincinnati, Ohio, and in 1854 went to 
Missouri, where he married and followed his trade principally at 
Huntsville. In August, 188 1, he was accidentally and fatally in- 
jured by the cars, dying ten days later. The paper on which he 
worked and the Moberly Chronicle gave him high commendation as 
printer, citizen and man. By his marriage he had thirteen children, 
nine of whom survived him. I get most of this information from 
the notices printed on his death. Had thirteen children: 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 461 

Ada M., b. April 7, 1856; d. June 22, 1858. 
Edward G., b. June 21, 1858; 1. Meadville, Mo.; m. Mary 
M. Dye, June 26, 1887; b. May 4, 1866. Had four 
children: 

Shirley F., b. June 9, 1889. 
Rachel H., b. November 3, 189 1. 
Florence E., b. March 21, 1894. 
Mary M., b. August 19, 1898. 
Annie B., b. November 11, 1859; 1. Richmond, Mo.; 
m. George W. Eadington, December 12, 1882. Had 
seven children: 

William R., b. March 28, 1884; d. August 9, 

1884. 
Harry C, b. July 12, 1886. 
Lillian F., b. December 31, 1890. 
Ella N., b. February 9, 1894. 
Clarence E., b. February 9, 1894; d. June 18, 

1894. 
Mary E., b. July z8, 1895. 
Velma G., b. June 30, 1900. 
Florence S.,b. March 4, 1862; 1. Meadville, Mo.; m. R. T. 
Dye, October 29, 1885. Had eight children: 
Etta L., b. November 5, 1886. 
George O., b. February 7, 1888. 
Mary F., b. February 28, 1890. 
Robert N., b. June 9, 1891. 
Henry E., b. February 24, 1893. 
Stella, b. January 11, 1895; d. January 25, 1895. 
Florence M., b. February 25, 1896. 
Virginia A., b. September 13, 1898. 
Ernest L., b. September 22, 1863; d. November 25, 

1865. 
Virginia L., b. October 25, 1865; I. Huntsville, Mo.; m. 
Victor Vanderbecl<, June 28, 1893. Had four children: 
Zella M., b. April z, 1894. 
Victor F., b. July 27, 1896. 
Arthur R., b. October 24, 1899. 
Virginia P., b. June 3, 1901. 
Everett S., b. December 6, 1867; d. January I, 1899. 
Fannie M., b. February 25, 1870; d. same day. 
William R., b. February 3, 1 87 1; 1. Clifton Hill, Mo.; m. 
Nettie Harmony, March 11, 1900. Had one child: 
Vesta C, b. April 8, 1901. 
Harry K., b. September 13, 1873; 1- Lexington, Mo. 
Maggie P., b. April 26, 1876; d. April 25, 1877. 
George W., b. July 26, 1878; 1. Huntsville, Mo. 
Lucretia, b. April 21, 1880; d. April 12, 1902. 



462 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Norman, a son of David Covey, fell into a well when a child and 
was drowned. His mother missed him and after searching for him 
without avail went to the well and was horrified to see his crust of 
bread floating on the water below. Frantic as she was, she went down 
the well to investigate, when all her fears burst fiiU upon her. Hero- 
ically she brought him up, brave woman that she was, but it was too 
late. His little spirit had taken its flight. 

-* SOLOMON CHITTENDEN, b. September 14, 1761, Killingworth, 
Conn.; d. February 9, 1855; m. Susannah Sanford, June, 1785; b. January 
20, 1767, Old Woodbury, Conn.; d. August 22, 1855. He was a soldier 
in the war of the Revolution, serving two enlistments of three years each 
and some months, and drew a pension of $S per month for a great many 
years. Both lived some years in and died and were buried in Hopkinton, 
highly respected. Had twelve children: 

Nathaniel, b. October 12, 1786; d. aged twenty-one, at Troy. 
Oliva, b. February 8, 1788; d. January 19, 1867; m. John Crouch; 
1. in Orwell, Vt. Had two children: 

Nelson C.,b. August 2, 1820; d. June 9, 1897, Parishville; 
m. Margaret M. Abram, June 16, 1852; d. May 26, 1893, 
aged sixty-seven years. Had two children: 

William N., b. April 5, 1854; 1. Norwood, N. Y. ; 
m. Florence M. Holmes, September 4, 1878. Had 
four children: 

Nelson H., b. October 16, 1879. 
Charles E., b. July 11, 1881. 
Harry B., b. August 21, 1883. 
Arthur W., b. November 12, 188;. 
Oliva C, b. May 5, 1 861; 1. Aliens Falls, N. Y.; 
m. Elias Bell, June 16, 1 88 1. No issue. 
Mary A., d. August 6, 1873, ^^^^ fifty-three years; m. 
Henry Thatcher. Had one child: 

Emma E., d. June 26, 1877, aged twenty-five; m. 
Elias Bell, January 4, 1870. No issue. 
Polly, b. February 7, 1790. 

Joseph N., b. January 2, 1792; d. May 3, 1869, at Orwell, Vt. ; 
m. Olivia Ormsbee; m. 2d, Pamelia Brewer. A very prominent 
and successful man of Orwell, Vt.; a member of Assembly and 
colonel in the militia. No issue. 
Chauncey, b. January 10, 1794; d. February 27, 1868; m. Malinda 
Wicker, November 7, 1816; b. August 2, 1796; d. August 28, 
1868. He held a fine farm on south side of the river and just west- 
erly of Fort Jackson. Had seven children: 

Harriet J., b. September 17, 1817; d. May 7, 1894; m. 
Abel Gage, January 31, 1 85 1; died December 13, 1878. 
Had five children: 

Justice B., d. in infancy. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 463 

Sarah M.,b. July4, 1852; single; 1. Winthrop, N. Y. 
Julius C, b. July 5, 1854; d. June 2, 1880. 
J. Alton, b. July 5, 1856; 1. Ontario, Cal.; m. 
Hattie Rose, March I, I 88 1; d. February 3, 1884; 
m. 2d, E. A. Dow, December 10, 1884; d. August 
7, 1 90 1. Had one child by first and two by second 
marriage: 

Clifton E., b. March 20, 1883. 
Ernest D., b. July 9, 1886. 
Bessie M., b. September 10, 1889. 
R. Chauncey, b. January 31, i860; I. Fort Jackson; 
m. Sarah E. Rose, September 14, 1882. Had four 
children: 

Ethel H., b. July 23, 1886. 
Helen M., b. September 8, 1891. 
Roy C, b. December 20, 1894. 
Homer D., b. March 5, 1900. 
Jane Ann, b. July 8, 18 19; d. August 5, 1898; m. Wilson 
Kelsey, January, 1842. I have been unable to get this 
family further than to learn that there is a son. Dr. J. H. 
Kelsey, residing at Minneapolis, Minn. 
Carlos C, b. November 19, 1821; d. January 16, 1899; 
m. Emily Phelps, August 31, 1846; b. March 2, 1828; 1. 
Hopkinton. Owned a large farm two miles north of Fort 
Jackson, where he died. Had three children: 

Alanson P., b. June 9, 1847; d. December 29, 1897; 
m. Mary A. Bristol, November 29, 1873; b. Feb- 
ruary 18, 1850; 1. Potsdam, N. Y. Had one child: 
Luta Mabel, b. June 16, 1884. 
Alonzo J., b. August 5, 1848; 1. Potsdam; m. Sarah 
N. Lawrence, December 29, 1 885; b. October 9, 
1863. Had two children: 

Maud Isabelle, b. October 16, 1891. 
Mildred Helen, b. March 19, 1898. 
EvaP.,m. Isaac R. Hopkins. (See Ros well Hopkins.) 
Susan S., b. December 21, 1823; d. September 15, 1850. 
Helen M., b. April 23, 1827. (See Caleb Wright.) 
Caroline L., b. March 22, 1831; d. February 8, 1892, in 
Parishville; m. James Fleming, July 3, 1858; b. January 21, 
1829; d. September 16, 1 891, at Fort Jackson. Had six 
children, born at Fort Jackson: 

Nellie S., b. May 27, i860; d.; m. James Fadden 

of Dickinson Centre; 1. District of Columbia. 
Clara H., b. August 22, 1862; d. March 2, 1901, 
Parishville; m. L. Jasmer, June 18, 1 88 1. Had 
one child: 

Katie W. 



464 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Freddie and Hattie, d. in infancy. 
Wright I., b. July 22, 1870; 1. Troy, N. Y. ; m. 
Anna B. Holmes, May 25, 1892. Had one child: 
Keziah D., b. January 10, 1895. 
George L., b. April 28, 1874; 1. Valley Falls, N. Y. 
Clark "W., b. May 21, 1840; d. November 12, 1885, 
Madrid, N. Y. ; m. Izannah Keeler, August 26, 1859; b. 
August 26, 1838; d. January 9, 1891. Had three children: 
Fannie O., b. November 6, 1862; 1. Madrid, N. Y.; 
m. Robert B. Watson, April 6, 1887. Had three 
children: 

Clark R., b. March 24, 1888. 
Roy C, b. March 3, 1892. 
J. ^A^esley, b. October 8, 1896. 
Helen M., b. August 28, 1869; 1. St. Albans Bay, 
Vt. ; m. Buel A. Greene, October 22, 1887. Had 
one child: 

Mae E., b. May 22, 1889. 
Mae C, b. May i, 1877; 1. Swanton, Vt.; m. 
Heman R. Merritt, December I, 1896. Had two 
children: 

Clark H., b. March 19, 1900. 
Zanniah, b. September 21, 1901. 
Nathan, b. March 3, 1796; d. at age of fourteen. 
Ann, b. April, 1798; d. March 24, 1877, in Lawrence, N. Y. ; m. 

David White, d. May 24, 1877. No issue. 
Clark S., b. May 16, 1803, Benson, Vt.; d. May 18, 1890; m. 
Julia Sheldon, January 8, 1828; b. May 27, 1808; d. May 19, 
1880. His wife was a daughter of the pioneer, Abraham Sheldon. 
He came to town about 1 82 1, and soon engaged in the mercantile 
business, which he followed for many years and very successfiiUy, 
becoming one of the strongest men in town. His store stood on the 
north side of the street, just west of and close to his residence shown 
in the picture of the present stone store built by his sons, K. S. and 
V. A. Chittenden, in 1868, 1869. He was supervisor of the town, 
justice of the peace for many years, and member of the legislature. 
He was a man of strong will, decided convictions and rare judgment. 
Had five children: 

Olivia, b. November 27, 1831; d. September 7, 1858; m. 

Jason C. Brush, January I, 1856. (See Brush record.) 
King S., b. February 26, 1833; 1. Hopkinton; m. Sarah 
Hopkins, October 9, 1859; b. November 15, 1834. No 
issue. He began business in the store of his father and fol- 
lowed that and farming for many years. He and his brother 
were in trade under the firm name of K. S. and V. A. Chit- 
tenden from 1857 to 1874, when the latter took the business. 
They did business in the old store of their father (torn down 
some years ago) up to the time of their building the present 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 465 

stone store in 1868, 1869. He was town clerk for the years 
1857, 1858 and 1859, and supervisor for the years 1888 to 
1894, and could have held it longer had he wished. He 
has been quite successful, and is a bright, intelligent, genial 
man and most highly respected. 
Roswell, b. April 23, 1836; d. April 17, 1837. 
Varick A., b. February 6, 1838; 1. Hopidnton; m. Char- 
lotte A. Risdon, February 16, i860; b. January 26, 1838; 
d. March 5 , 1 8 7 i ; m. zd, Laura A. Lawrence, September i i , 
1872; b. February 14, 1837. He followed the business of 
. merchant with his brother as stated, and afterwards alone till 
1892, when he passed it to his son Jay, who now conducts it. 
, He was town clerk continuously from 1859 to 1892, with the 
. exception of the year 1869. Standing so highly for integrity 
and probity, he has been guardian, trustee and executor in 
many estates. He has ever taken a great interest in the Con- 
gregational Church and looked after its welfare with assiduous 
care and attention. Had three children by first and two by 
second marriage: 

Bertha Olivia, b. March 21, 1862; 1. Parishville; 
m. Herbert J. Sanford, June z8, 1882. (SeeSanford 
family. ) 
Edna Mary, b. July 12; d. June. 27, 1897, West- 
field, N. Y.; m. Elmore M. Kent, June zo, 1889. 
No issue. 
Jay H., b. June 7, 1870; 1. Hopkinton; m. Gertrude 
Hoyt, September 19, 1893; b. November il, 
1871. Had one child: 

Clark S., b. April 8, 1902. 
Mabel, b. April 22, 1874; d. December, 1877. 
Lawrence, b. August ll, 1876; 1. Hopkinton. 
Jay H., b. November 29, 1844; d. February 27, 1863. 
Sally, b. April. 22, 1805; d. April 16, 1847; m. John Sheldon. 

(See Sheldon record. ) 
Twin babes, d. in infancy. 

Asahel Handy, b. August 25, 181 1, Orwell, Vt.; d. August 
24, 1858, Potsdam, N. Y. ; m. Mary Risdon, April 13, 1836; b. 
October 7, 1815; d. March 4, 1875. She was a daughter of 
Elisha Risdon, the pioneer. Had eleven children: 

Marion Risdon, b. March 15, 1838; d. April 8, 1861. 
Mary Beatrice, b. September 29, 1839; 1. Brasher Falls; 
m. Henry M. Hulburd, May 16, 1889; d. February 8, 
1896. 
Olive Anzonette, b. March 5, 1842; d. February 26, 
1869, Lawrenceville, N. Y. ; m. Charles V. McEwen, 
June 10, 1863; b. September 12, 1839; d. September 9, 
1869. Had one child: 



466 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Marion Chittenden, b. April 6, 1866; 1. Yonkers, 
N. Y.; m. Edward Crabbe, March 2, 1897. Had 
three children: 

Emily McEwen, b. December 8, 1897. 
Marion Georgiana, b. September 18, 1899. 
Edward Luis, b. July 12, 1902. 
Anna Maria, b. August 12, 1843; d. February 19, 1876, 

Webster City, Iowa. 
Solomon Elisha, b. November 27, 1845; d. July 22, 1875. 
Sally Susannah, b. May 19, 1847; 1. Brasher Falls, 
N. Y. ; m. Corydon Capell, December 27, 1877; d. April 
4, 1880. No issue. 
Julia Amanda, b. August 23, 1849; 1. Brasher Falls, 
■N. Y. ; m. Sanford W. Hulburd, August 17, 1870; b. June 
12, 1845. Had four children: 

Le Roy Chittenden, b. May 6, 1873; 1. Roswell, 

Ga.; m. Bertha Ola Wood, December 31, 1902. 
Mary Cordelia, b. April 30, 1875; d. January 8, 

1876. 
Lucius Sanford, b. June 2, 1879. 
Ethel Olive, b. July 16, 1882. 
Clark Asahel, b. August 12, 1851; d. August 5, 1877; m. 
Frances Moses, September 5, 1876. Had one child: 
' Clark Aimer, d. September 27, 1877, a baby of 

three months. 
Kate Clarinda, b. September 27, 1853; ^- February 26, 

1875. 
Ellen Augusta, b. September 1, 1855; 1. Brasher Falls; m. 
Thomas M. Grant, July 6, i88o; b. May 18, 1843, Lex- 
ington, Ky. Had six children: 

Floyd Marshall, b. May 23, 1881; 1. Brasher 

Falls. 
Stuart Ashley, b. March 10, 1883; 1. Brasher 

Falls. 
Archie Chittenden, b. February 23, 1885; 1. 

Brasher Falls. 
Hope Beatrice, b. October 9, 1886; 1. Brasher 

Falls. 
Baby boy, b. and d. November 11, 1888. 
Sanford Chittenden, b. August 8, 1892; 1. 
Brasher Falls. 
Sanford Harmon, b. June 23, 1857; d. December 22, 1887; 
m. Emeline S. Ingalls, June I, 1881; b. November 17, 
1858; 1. Hopkinton. Had three children: 

Sanford King, b. February 23, 1883; 1. Hopkinton. 
Sydney Ingalls, b. March 29, 1885; 1. Hopkinton. 
Emma L, b. April 21, 1887; d. July 13, 1887. 








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EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 467 

ZORASTER CULVER, b. July, 1796, Lenox, Mass.; d. January 7, 
1878, Oberlin, Ohio; m. Sarah Hayward, b. May, 1800, Bridgeport, Vt. ; 
d. July 25, 1876, Oberlin, Ohio. They were married in May, 1824, and 
came to Hopkinton that year or possibly the next, where he kept a store for 
some forty years. It was not exactly a department store, yet he kept about 
everything which any one in town would want to buy. The store stood a 
little north of the present Culver residence and up to the line of the village 
Green, and was the social centre for the whole community. He was a man 
deeply religious from boyhood, and during the larger part of his residence in 
town was a deacon and model churchman. His home was the natural 
"annex " to the church, and if a minister came he was expected as a matter 
of course to go there. He was much respected and admired by all. Al- 
though the last ten years of their lives were spent in OberUn, Ohio, that they 
might be near their daughter, Mrs. Hiram Hulburd, they were continually 
living over again in loving thought their long-time life with the good people of 
Hopkinton. Several of their sons attained much prominence as financiers 
and business men. Had seven children: 

Amelia, b. October 5, 1825; d. October 21, 1901, at Chicago, 111.; 
m. Hiram Hulburd of Stockholm in 1846. Had three children: 
Clarence, b. June, 1847; d. in infancy, July, 1848. 
Charles H., b. May, 1850. Resides in Chicago, 111., and 
is president of the Elgin Watch Company, besides having 
other important business interests. 
DeForest, b. June, 1856; died June, 1866. 
Howard Z., b. May, 1827; d. November 5, 1901, at Washington, 
D. C; m. Emma Foster in 1850, at Andover, Mass. He was the 
senior member of the firm of Culver, Page, Hoyne & Co., whole- 
sale stationers of Chicago, and helped to organize and for twenty 
years was vice-president of the Elgin Watch Company. Had two 
children: 

Isabella (Mrs. Franklin Wilder). 

Allen M., b. January, 1855; 1. 1545 Lafayette Street, Den- 
ver, Colo. 
Beldin F., b. September, 1829; d. November 12, 1902, at Ashe- 
ville, N. C. ; m. Julia Barry of Chicago in I 860. He was a mem- 
ber of the well-known firm of Culver & Co. of Chicago. He was 
also a member of the commission appointed by' the governor to lay 
out Lincoln Park, and its second president; one of the founders of 
the Chicago Historical Society; a charter member of the Chicago 
Academy of Sciences; a supporter of the Academy of Design; and a 
member of the Board of Trade of Chicago for twenty-four years. 
Had five children: 

William B., b. February, 1862; d. at sea, November, 1873. 

Julia, b. February, 1864; 1. Chicago, 111. 

Hayward, b. 1867; d. 1874. 

Bertram, b. 1870; d. 1874. 

Agnes, b. October, 1874; !• Chicago, III. 



J 



468 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Charles K., b. August, 1831; d. June 23, 1890, in Chicago; m. 
Viola Manville of Watertown in 1855. He went to Chicago in 
1854 and was very successful in business. Because of his integrity 
and thorough conscientiousness he was highly respected. He was a 
member of the Board of Trade from its origin, and once, if not twice, 
its president. 

Sarah K., b. December, 1833; d. October 29, 1900, at Chicago, 111. 

George N., b. September, 1836; d. May, 1894, in Chicago; m. 
Lois Hulburd of Stockholm in 1862. He went to Chicago in 1868 
and soon became a member of the firm of Culver & Co. He was a 
man of culture and one of the best judges of art in the city, being at 
one time trustee of the Chicago Art Institute. He possessed great 
ability as a financier and business man and held many responsible 
positions at his death. Had one child: 
Frank, who d. in infancy. 

Celia C, b. February, 1839; residing Chicago, 111.; m. Rev. Simeon 
Gilbert, D. D., of Pittsford, Vt., in 1864. Had one child: 
Clara C, b. 1870. 

JARED DEWEY, d. December 13, 1850; m. Rachel Webster, d. 
June 12, 1858. He came into town in 1802 with Roswell Hopkins and 
others. Mr. Hopkins married his sister Lydia. It is accepted tradition that 
Mr. Hopkins gave him his choice of tracts for a farm. He could 
have had the Eliphahet Brush farm, but took a hundred acres a 
mile or so south from Nicholville on account of the fine springs on it. 
His son, Wilham W. Dewey, ninety-one years of age, claims that his father 
cut the first tree in Hopkinton on the farm of Joel Goodell. Dr. Hough's 
history gives him the credit for this act. He resents with some indignation 
the claim for this act by any other. The record of the family is very incom- 
plete, but it is the best I have been able to obtain. Had five children: 
Ira B., b. in Vermont, August 31, 1804; d. young. 
Diadama, b. February 24, 1808; d. June 12, 1888; m. Aaron T. 
Smith in 1844 (second wife); d. in Minnesota in 1896. Had two 
children: 

Eunice A. Smith, Fergus Falls, Minn. 
Ad^h E., Twinsburg, Ohio; m. Charles H. Marshall. 
William ^A/., b. August 24, 1810; living at Western, Minn.; m. 
Harriet Blanchard, November 18, 1835. Had five children: 
Alzina R., d. in Hopkinton, 1862; m. Francis White. 
Martha A., d. Lawrence, Minn., 1883; m. J. G. Marple. 
Mary M., d. Western, Minn., 1875; m. George W. Shel- 
don. 
Rhoda M., 1. Western, Minn; m. I.J. Brown. 
^A/illiam B., 1. Western, Minn.; m. Ella M. Toombe. 
Sally, b. July 19, 181 2; m. Benjamin Page. Had four children: 

Edgar, Mary, Jared and Ara, but no information of them 
has been obtainable. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 469 

Jared L., b. 1813; m. ist, Eliza Lovell. Had seven children: 

Ira, Abner, Emeline, John, Jared, Lucy (adopted by 
Israel Putnam, now Mrs. Ashley Dudley of Michigan) and 
William, of Fort Jackson, N. Y. 

PHINEAS DURFEY, b. March 18, 1780, Ellington, Conn.; d. May 
25, 1865; ra. Ruth Brooks, b. in Charlemont, Mass.; d. September 27, 
1858. They were married in Bristol, Vt., and came from there to Hopkin- 
ton in 1 8 — , and took up a tract three miles west of Hopkinton village still 
known as the " Durfey place." After a few years he began keeping an inn 
and at one time had three log houses standing a little north and east of the 
present stone house, which latter was built by him in 181 8. The celebrated 
"old Grimes " was an occasional guest with Mr. Durfey. He held various 
town offices and was a prominent citizen. In the militia he held the position 
of ensign in 181 I, lieutenant in 1819, captain in 1820, I 821. (See story 
of the farm, among pioneer settlers.) Had three children: 

Harriet, b. December 5, 1807; d. November 29, 1876, at Hender- 
son, Ky.; m. Samuel Flanders, d. 1 841, at Otsego, Ohio. Had 
three children: 

Calista Lovisa, b. June 9, 1832; 1. Decatur, 111.; m. Dr. 
Oscar F. Parker, d. December 16, 1897, in Decatur, 111. 
He practised medicine at Parishville for some years with suc- 
cess. Had one child: 

Minnie Alice, m. Virgil N. Hostiller. Had one 
child: 

Ruth Brooks. 
Harriet Melissa, b. April 20, 1834; 1. Henderson, Ky.; 
m. Gabriel Decatur Sugg, October 21, 1858. Had three 
children : 

Dr. Oscar F., b. September 12, 1859; 1. Union 
City, Tenn.; m. Georgie Posey of Henderson, Ky. 
Had one child: 

Cameron P., b. June 25, 1895. 
Ruth K., b. July 28, 1861; 1. WickliiFe, Ky.; m. 
Edman Hopkins of Henderson, Ky. Had seven 
children : 

Strother B., b. October 26, 1883. 
W. Irving S., b. December 17, 1885. 
Walter Alves, b. December 6, 1887. 
Ella Clara, b. November 21, 1889. 
Ruth Brooks, b. May 8, 1892. 
Frances P., b. May 15, 1897. 
Marie L., b. March 20, 1901. 
Clara E., b. March 28, 1878; 1. Henderson, Ky. 
Lovisa Maria, b. April 6, 1840; 1. Deming, N. M.; m. 
Morgan Swope, November 6, 1862; d. June 11, 1902. 
Had four children: 



470 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Dr. Samuel D., b. November 5, 1864, Henderson, 
Ky. ; 1. Deming, N. M.; m. Susan L. Weaver, 
December 26, 1889. Had three children: 
Mary Lovisa, b. May 6, 1891. 
Helen Harriet, b. February 19, 1893. 
Minnie Weaver, b. December 31, 1896. 
Martha M., b. December 27, 1866; 1. Barlow, Ky. ; 
m. Robert S. Hicks, October 7, 1882, at Shawny- 
town. 111. Had nine children: 

Morgan S., b. October 29, 1883. 
Annie Lockett, b. October 25, 1885. 
Lovisa Flanders, b. September 21, 1887; 

d. April 1 2, 1895. 
Robert Sherwood, b. September 23, 1889. 
James Lockett, b. March 7, 1892. 
Albert Q., b. January 31, 1894. 
Henry Swope, b. May 13, 1896. 
Elizabeth Loretta, b. January 10, 1898. 
Martha Laura, b. April 15, 1902. 
Morgan P., b. August I, 1869, Henderson, Ky. ; 

accidentally killed June 17, 1872. 
Albert Joseph, b. August 7, 1871; d. June 3, 
1898; single. 
Joseph B., b. November 26, 181 l; d. February 9, 1 903; m. Lovisa 
A. Parker, February 19, 1840; b. January 21, 1 820; 1. Parishville, 
N. Y. He was the first child born in town after the coming of Dr. 
Gideon Sprague, and was the oldest person born in town save William 
Dewey, born in 1810, living at Western, Minn., when this was 
written. Mr. D. was remarkably well preserved for one of his years. 
He was a quiet, reserved, honest man, and won and held the respect 
and esteem of all who ever knew him. Had one child: 

Sarah L., b. December 24, 1842; 1. Parishville, N. Y. ; m. 
Charles W. Clapp, March 23, 1870. Had one child: 
Eva L., b. April 15, I 87 1. 
Maria, b. May 10, 1816; d. March 7, 1894; unmarried. She was 
a gentle, affectionate and loving woman, and gave much of her life 
to nursing and caring for the invalid and sick. She was a noble 
woman and highly beloved by all. 



JOSEPH DURFEY, b. August, 1785, Ellington, Conn.; d. April 9, 
1854; m. Charlotte Hopkins, b. October 24, 1790, Pittsford, Vt. ; d. 
January 27, 1880. He came to town as early as October, 1805, and soon 
took up a tract just west of his brother, Phineas, where Alanson Fisher after- 
wards long resided, and where his son Herman now lives. He built a log 
house a few rods west of the present residence, and was married January 3, 
181 1. About 1830 he built the present house. All his children except 
Charlotte were born iij the log house, no trace of which remains. Mr. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 471 

George S. Wright says that Mr. Durfey had the reputation of being as honest 
a man as there was in town. He moved to Troy, Ohio, in October, 1836, 
going with a team all the way, and died there in 1854. ^^'^ seven children: 
Jerome, b. September 1;, 1812; d. January 27, 1813. 
Phineas H., b. April 24, 1814; d. July 10, 1887, Fillmore, Minn.; 
m. Clarissa Owen, b. November 12, 1815; d. June 20, 1878, 
Lima, Iowa. He was apprenticed to Samuel Flanders. In 1855 
he went to Rochester, Minn., and at that time he could kill deer from 
his doorstep. He built the first flour mill and was the first post- 
master. This place now has seven thousand population. In 1861 
went into milling business at Fillmore, Minn., and in 1869 moved to 
Lima, Iowa. Had six children: 

Joseph O., b. 1843; d. aged one year. / 

Marion A., b. June zz, 1845; 1. Riceville, Iowa; m. Philip l^ 
M. Mosher, December 3, 1865; b. March 7, 1844, Can- 
ton, N. Y. Had five children: 

Halsey, b. April 11, 1867; single; 1. Miles City, 

Mont. 
Lucian M., b. March 18, 1870; 1. Riceville, Iowa; 
m. Helen Fellows, September 10, 1895; b. April 
14, 1868. Had one child: 

Philip J., b. May 11, 1898. 
Winnefred E., b. July 5, 1873; '• Sumner, Iowa; 
m. Robert D. McCook, Sumner, Iowa, September 
29, 1896; b. June I, 1873. Had two children: 
Marion, b. May 4, 1900. 
Ernest M., b. March 5, 1902. 
Grace R., b. September iz, 1876; single; 1. Rice- 
ville, Iowa. 
Harry E., b. June 20, 1879; 1- Riceville, Iowa. 
Martha A., b. June 31, 1847; d. June 10, 1900, Villard, i/ 
Minn.; m. Sylvester M. Sherman, September 14, 1867, at 
Chatfield, Minn.; 1. Duluth. Had five children: 

Frank S., b. September 9, 1868; 1. Stacy, Minn.; 
ni. Mattie E. Cooper, January i, 1896; b. March 
6, 1877; is postmaster. Had four children: 

Chester C, b. October i 7, i 896; d. Novem- 
ber 25, 1896. 
Eunice M., b. May 21, 1899. 
Lucille L#., b. May 21, 1899. 
Fern F., b. November 20, 1901. 
Merrit F., b. April 14, 1870; d. July 22, 1873. 
Ami W., b. May II, 1873, Minneapolis; 1. Stacy; 
m. Eva L. Lent, October 9, 1895; b. October 10, 
1877, at Stacy; is a merchant. Had two children: 
Harry L., b. January 9, 1897. 
Hyacinth I., b. March 24, 1901. 



472 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Mabel C, b. April 12, 1876, Minneapolis; 1. St. 
Paul, Minn.; m. Miles E. Cooper, February 25, 
1901, at St. Paul. 
Fred D. L., b. March 26, 1878; 1. Gray Eagle, 
Minn. ; m. Fannie M. Webster, April 17, 1900; b. 
May 17, I 880; editor of paper. Had one child: 
Merrill F., b. August 6, 1901. 
Dayton ^^^., b. February 18, 1849; 1. Chatfield, Minn.; m. 
Rebecca J. Stewart in 1869, Fillmore, Minn. Had six 
children: 

Marion J., b. August 13, 1872; m. Irvin Persons, 
June 30, 1897; 1. Pilot Mound, Minn. Had two 
children: 

Louisa J., b. May 9, 1898. 
Alice M., b. January 21, I900;d. September 
20, 1900. 
Henry B., b. March 17, 1874; single; 1. Wykoff, 

Minn. 
Eliza A., b. May 22, 1876; teacher; 1. Chatfield, 

Minn.; m. Dallas Arnold, June 30, 1902. 
Bessie R., b. August 26, 1888; d. October 28, 

1888. 
Phineas D., b. December 15, 1890. 
Ellen C, b. December 29, 1892. 
Dresden L., b. March 16, 1850; 1. Volga City, Iowa; m. 
Mary E. Stearns, April 7, 1878, Lima, Iowa; b. February 
9, 1845. Had four sons: 

Fred C, b. May 3, 1880; m. Eugenia E. Herring; 

1. Ricevillc, Iowa. 
Charles D., b. March 11, 1882; 1. Volga City, 

Iowa. 
Herbert P., b. April 6, 1885; 1. Volga City, Iowa. 
Henry I., b. March 2, 1887; 1. Volga City, Iowa. 
Follett F., b. April II, 1852; 1. Lima, Iowa; m. Hattie 
Ward, 1876, Fayette, Iowa. Had five children: 

Elizabeth M., b. July 26, 1878, at Lima, Iowa; 
1. Fayette, Iowa; m. Ernest E. Kelley, February 23, 
1898. Had three children: 

Lewis C, b. April 25, 1899. 
Arthur L., b. November 8, 1900. 
Elsie Irene, b. June 15, 1902. 
Mabel R., b. June 14, I 880, at Lima; d. January 21, 
1902; m. Charles A. Kuhnes, December 30, 1896; 
1. Lima, Iowa. Had two children: 
Olive F., b. July 14, 1898. 
Zella L., b. April i, 1901. 
Arley I., b. September 7, 1884, at Lima, Iowa. 
Robert R., b. November 3, 1888, at Fillmore, Minn. 
John Merl, b. May 16, 1892, at Albany, Iowa. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 473 

Dilectus W., b. June 16, 1815; d. Fort Seneca, Ohio; m. Diana 
D. Greene, d. 1872. Had four children: 

Darwin D., died at the age of three years. 
Homer A. He was a member of Co. B, 55th Regiment, 
mortal!)' wounded at second battle of Bull Run, and died Sep- 
tember 12, 1862, aged eighteen. 
Julina H., d. in 1847, aged nine months. 
Lavinia H., d. in 1848, aged two years. 
Lucius E., b. September I ;, 1817; d. Chardon, Ohio, November 
II, 1889; m. Sophia Tinkham, December 31, 1851; b. October I, 
1825; 1. Chardon, Ohio. Was admitted to bar in 1847, settled in 
Chardon in December, 1852. Had three children: 

Louis B., b. March 3, 1861; d. May 20, 1863. 
Lucius L., b. March 3, 1861; 1. Boise City, Ida.; m. 
Fanny M., daughter of Colonel William Van Home, Octo- 
ber 20, 1891. He graduated from West Point Academy in 
June, 1886; served in war with Spain and three years in 
Philippines. He is now captain and commandant at Boise 
City, Ida. Had three children: 

Gordon A., b. August 17, 1892, at Cheyenne, Wy. 
Lloyd Van Home, b. December 23, 1895, Co- 
lumbus, Ohio. 
Francis A.,b. September 15, 1897, Columbus, Ohio. 
Joseph A., b. January 27, 1867, at Chardon, Ohio; I. 
Pueblo, Cal.; m. Kmma M. Case, September 22, 1892; b. 
February 14, 1869. Is superintendent in works of Colorado 
Fuel and Iron Co., Pueblo, Colo. Had one child: 
Maude L., b. July 19, 1897. 
Abigail Alice, b. October 14, 1824; 1. Grand Rapids, Mich.; m. 
A. Flummerfelt, October 20, 1845; d. August I, 1883. She is a 
bright, intelligent old lady, and the sole survivor of her father's family. 
She greatly assisted in this record. Had three children: 
The eldest d. in infancy. 
Rosalia A., d. at live years. 
Charlotte L., d. at three and one-half years. 
Joseph G., b. January 7, 1828; d. December 15, 1880, Garrets- 
ville, Ohio; m. Elizabeth C. Smith, July 2, 1851, Cardon, Ohio; 
d. 1882. Had three children: 

Hattie E., b. May 2, 1852; d. April 30, 1866. 
Henry C, b. May l, 1854, Parkman, Ohio; 1. Kansas City, 
Mo.; m. Ida P. Wales, September 24, 1874; d. December 
21, 1887; m. 2d, Etta Corey, January i, 1890. Had one 
child by first and one by second marriage: 

Hattie E., b. June 25, 1875, Troy, Ohio; m. Louis 
E. Burgncr; 1. Obcrlin, Ohio. Had one child: 
Reba D., b. September 4, 1900. 
John Henry. 



474 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Gracia Maud, b. June 27, 1870; m. E. W. Bennett, No- 
vember 19, 1888. Had two children: 
Elizabeth D., b. July 23, 1900. 
Jennett B. 
Charlotte C, b. October 24, 1833; d. August 19, 1884, Grand 
Rapids, Mich.; m. Marly G. Colson, d. October 16, 1861, 
McGregor, Iowa. Had one child: 

Lottie Alice, d. January 16, 1890; m. Dr. A. E. Luton; 1. 
Grand Rapids, Mich. Had four children, three now living: 
Edith L., Alice L. and Lottie C. Mrs. Flum- 
merfelt lives in this family. 

SAMUEL EASTMAN, b. 1769; d. May, 1852, age 83; m. Sarah 
Elizabeth Lee, d. September 29, 1797, Lincoln, Vt. ; m. 2d, Sally EUiot, 
b. Beverly, Mass.; d. October 7, 1849. He was born in Hopkinton, 
N. H., moved to Lincoln, Vt., and came to this town In 1803 or 1804. 
Being then a man of family he no doubt at once took up the two hundred 
acres, lots five and six, which have been in the family ever since. His deed 
to them bears date February 24, 1808. His log house stood in the yard 
just a little west and north of the present residence, the front part of which 
he built. The diary of Mr. Risdon speaks of his being hurt by a bull in 
1 8 — . Mr. George S. Wright says the bull caught his horns in his clothing 
in the first lunge and threw him over the yard fence, thus saving his life. He 
was an active, public spirited and successful man for his time. The farm 
was held by his son William E. and is now held by his grandson, 
Samuel E. He was a fine man, good height, very close in his dealings, 
wore a linen or tow frock down to his knees, a strong Baptist and a man of 
very decided convictions. He owned the first buggy that was in the town. 
His wife, born in Beverly near Salem, Mass., the home of witchcraft in this 
country, was a believer in it and often told her children of the means adopted 
to thwart the witches and their evil influence. Had four children by first and 
six by second marriage: 

Sally, b. February 16, 1794, Hopkinton, N. H. ; d. September 26, 
1869; m'. Daniel Kelley, July 12, i8i8; b. August 29, 1796; d. 
May II, 1857. They lived at Fowler, N. Y. He died from 
drowning at Gouverneur, N. Y. Had six children: 

Harriet, b. April 29, 1820; d. September 24, 1847, at 
Fowler, N. Y. ; m. Galusha M. Hazelton, September 19, 
1842. Had three children: 

Amelia L., b. May 28, 1843; d. February i, 
1875; m. Andrew L. Carr, February 8, 1 865; I. Hart, 
' Mich. Had three children: 

Bower M., b. August 30, 1866. 
Etta P., b. June 2, 1872. 
Edgar A., b. September 8, 1874. 
Edgar G., b. September 28, 1844; d. October 22, 
1899, Kenosha, Wis.; m. Eveline Price. Had one 
child: 

Blanch, b. July 3, 1876; 1. Kenosha, Wis. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 475 

Sarah Anna, b. May, 1846; 1. Russell, N. Y. ; m. 
Jerome A. Jenne, b. December, 1843. Had seven 
children: 

Bell, b. July, 1868; 1. Russell; m. Joseph 
Clark, July, 1883. Had two chldren: 
Harry, b. October, 1886. 
Anna, b. June, 1893. 
May, b. May, 1870; 1. Gouverneur, N. Y. ; 
m. Eben Briggs, July, 1889. Had one 
child: 

May Jennie, b. December, 1890; I. 
Gouverneur. 
Myrtle, b. March, 1872; 1. Edwards; m. 
Daniel Barraford, December, 1891. Had 
three children: 

Ruth, b. October, 1892. 
Jennie, b. May, 1896. 
Everett, b. July, 1899. 
Jerome, b. February, 1874; 1. Perth, N. D. 
Frank, b. April, 1878; 1. Russell, N. Y. 
Hazelton, b. May, 1886; I. Russell, N. Y. 
Bessie, b. August, 1894; 1. Russell, N. Y. 
Betsey, b. October 3, 1824; d. May I, 1885, at Yorkville, 
111.; m. Gordon Palmer, March 5, 1844. Had eight 
children: 

Dr. Ira F., b. May 23, 1845; 1. Onarga, 111.; m. 
Emma A. Wood, November 27, 1872. Had two 
children : 

Paul J., b. December 27, 1874; 1. Orange, 
III.; m. Dessa Hastings, December 5, 1900. 
Had one child: 

Son, b. September 19, 1901. 
Clifford G., b. March 17, 1880; 1. Jasper 
City, Mo.; m. Florence Wood, January i, 
1 90 1. 
Lucy A., b. October 23, 1846; 1. Yorkville, 111.; m. 
Albert Young, January 8, 1867. Had five children: 
Fred G., b. October 12, 1867; 1. Bristol, 
111.; m. Margerite Raymond, February 5, 
1890. Had one child: 

Ethel E., b. April i, 1896. 
J. Frank, b. September 14, 1872; 1. Aurora, 

111.; m. Jennie Shownde, April 2, 1902. 
E. Hazelton, b. December 12, 1876; 1. 
Yorkville, 111.; m. Clara B. Cooper, June 5, 
1901. Had one child: 

Edgar C, b. May 26, 1902. 



4/6 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Bessie A., b. January 12, i88z; 1. Yorkville, 

111. 
Edna E.. b. June 24, 1884; 1. Yorkville, 111. 
Harriet Alida, b. July 25, 1848; 1. Yorkville, 111.; 
m. John H. Nichols, December 10, 1867. Had five 
children: 

Ina A., b. August 10, 1868; 1. Pavilion, 
111.; m. E. L. Matlock, October 13, 1 891. 
Had five children: 

Gerald E., b. September 14, 1892. 
Alida L., b. July 3, 1894. 
John R., b. August 9, 1896. 
G. West, b. March 4, 1898. 

Robert L., b. May 27, 1901. 
Hattie A., b. December 8, 1869; 1. York- 
ville, 111.; m. E. W. Smith, September 18, 
1895. Had two children: 

Howard W., b. December 13, 

1896. 
Olive L., b. November i, 1900. 
J. Gordon, b. April 15, 1874; "i- Stella L. 
Solfirburg, October 11, 1899. Had one 
child: 

Irene M., b. August 11, 1900. 
Lavern P., b. July 5, 1876; 1. Ottavv'a, 

Kan. 
Marion A., b. December 29, 1883; 1. York- 
ville, 111. 
Helen A., b. May 14, 1850; 1. Gouvemeur, N. Y.; 
m. Lyman L. Austin, October 12, 1882. Had one 
child: 

Bessie E., b. March 18, 1884. 
Fred Gordon, b. October 29, 185;, at Fox, 111.; 
1. Yorkville, III.; m. Jessie Ballard, September 2, 
1885. No issue. 
Daniel P., b. March 20, 1857, at Fox; 1. Yorkville, 
111; m. Hattie A. Healy, February 14, 1882. Had 
two children: 

Hugh G., b. November 23, 1885. 
Glenn D., b. March 4, 1893. 
Elizabeth L., b. February 22, i860; 1. Aurora, 
111.; m. Will H. Healy, February 13, 1879. Had 
one child. 

Ruth A., b. June 5, 1888. 
Jennie E., b. March 23, 1862; 1. Aurora, 111.; m. 
Arthur N. Healy, January 12, 1882. Had two 
children: 

Paul W., b. December 10, 1884. 
Fred A., b. July 7, 1889. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 477 

Daniel A., b. January 17, 1829; d. August 8, 1878, De 

Kalb, 111.; m. Julia M. Rasey, November 19, 1857; b. 

August 19, 1829, Trenton, N. Y. Had three children: 

George A., b. May 15, i860; 1. Aurora, 111.; m. 

Emily A. Dunbar, September 29, 1885; b. August 

25, I 86 1. Had five children: 

Myrtle B., b. June 23, 1 888. 
Maude E., b. January 25, 1891. 
Ray A., b. October 14, 1893. 
Ralph D., b. December i, 1895. 
Floyd R., b. June 30, 1898. 
Fred D., b. February 14, i86z; 1. Chicago Heights; 
m. Mary E. Clark, September 16, 1891. No issue. 
Eugene D., b. March 9, 1867; 1. Aurora, 111.; m. 
Clara Ramer, February 18, 1892; b. November 27, 
1866. Had one child: 

Edgar Eugene, b. April 9, 1893; d. May 
4, 1893. 
Samuel Lee, b. June 20, 1831; d. November 29, 1898, 
Fowler, N. Y. ; m. Emeline Woodcock, December 27, 
1857. Had five children: 

Hattie L., b. February 22, 1859; 1. Potsdam, N. 
Y.; m. C. W. Hazelton, March 11, 1885. Had 
three children: 

George L., b. November 30, 1887; d. Feb- 
ruary 18, 1890, at Potsdam. 
Altha E., b. September 11, 1889. 
Howard C, b. January 24, 1895. 
Daniel P., b. April 13, 1863; 1. Fowler, N. Y.; 
m. Lida Hazelton, March g, 1887. Had three 
children: 

Howard H., b. November 11, 1892; d. 

February 3, i 898. 
Gladys, b. October 11, 1895. 
Martin, b. December 17, 1897. 
George W., b. August 15, 1864; 1. Fowler, N.Y. ; 
m. Anna Goodnough, October, 1890. Had two 
children : 

Louise E., b. November 14, 1893. 
Lee G.,b. March 22, 1896. 
Nettie, b. November 14, 1 870; 1. Fowler, N. Y. ; 
m. Myron Huntley, June z6, 1895. Had four 
children: 

Guy K., b. May II, 1896. 
John, b. April 28, 1899. 
Edith M., b. May 15, 1900. 
Nettie L. , b. March 18, 1902. 
Anna Lea, b. October 19, 1879; 1. Fowler, N. Y. ; 
m. Joseph J. Latham, June 1 1,' 1902. 



478 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Kunice, b. April 9, 1833; d. March 3, 1852, at Fowler. 
George 'W., h. November 9, 1836; d. February 24, 1 886, 
at Fowler; m. Anna E. Austin, 1869;!. Gouverneur, N. Y. 
Had five children: 

Daniel Austin, b. February 28, 1872; d. December 

7, 1892. 
Leona, b. July 26, 1873; '^- March, 1875. 
Lena, b. March 28, 1876; d. November, 1876. 
Hazelton, b. May 26, 1882; 1. Gouverneur. 
Helen, b. March 17, 1886; 1. Gouverneur. 
Stephen, d. June, 1888, in Hopkinton; m. Daraxa, widow of Jona- 
than B. Abbott. (See Samuuel Abbott record. ) Had one child: 
Mary, deceased. 
Samuel, Jr., b. Lincoln, Vt., November 6, I 796; d. July 22, 1869; 
m. Phebe Orvis, February ;, 1823, at Lincoln, Vt. ; b. October 21, 
l8oi;d. September 24, 1 868. Lived about two miles west of his father. 
His grandson Frank now holds the farm. Had eleven children: 

Henry C, b. May 7, 1824; d. March 8, 1862, at Balti- 
more, Md.;m. Sarah A. Harrington, March 14, 1850; b. 
February 21, 1829; d. September 4, 1870. Had three chil- 
dren: 

Elmina S., b. September 12, 1851; d. March 11, 
1 90 1, at Converse, N. Y. ; m. Lafayette Samson, d. 
February 10, 1 90 1. Had two children: 

Leon L., b. August 18, 1878; 1. Nicholville; 

m. Anna S. Chandler, June 22, 1902. 
Frank L., b. June 22, 1880; 1. Converse. 
Mary E., b. May 14, 1854; ™- Jo'i" Kelsey, De- 
cember I, 1 87 1; 1. Lawrence, N. Y. Had three 
children: 

Ora, b. September 17, 1876; 1. Lawrenceville, 

N. Y. ; m. Lulu Copp, September, 1898. 
Nina, b. February 10, 1879; '• Lawrence, 
N. Y. ; m. William Taylor, November 17, 
1902. 
Emma, b. December 5, 1886. 
Henry C, b. September 21, 1861; m. Nettie Hall, 
October 19, 1882; 1. Parishville. Had two children: 
Vadne, b. September, 1888. 
Merle, b. March, 1891. 
Mary E., b. February 13, 1826; d. January 18, 1898, at 
Colton, N. Y. ; m. Graton M. Hastings, December 8, 1852; 
b. December 3, 181 8; d. September 4, 1872. Mr. Has- 
tings first married Ellen Haywood, by whom he had two 
sons, Ryland Wilmot and Franklin H. Had two children: 
Mary Ellen, b. November 22, 1857; d. March 3, 

1870. 
Myron G., b. January 18, 1861 ; 1. Parishville; m. 
Eva Hepburn. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 479 

Lucinda A., b. March zi, 1828; 1. Converse, N. Y.; m. 
Olivet Kirk, October 10, 1861; b. July 3, i8i6;d. May 
14, 1868. Had one child: 

Lucinda S., b. June 13, 1862; single; 1. Converse, 
N. Y. 
James O., b. July 2, 1830; d. June 20, 1884; m. Mrs. 
Julia A. Wright, December 19, i868; b. April 13, 1830; 
1. Converse, N. Y. Had one child: 

Frank J., b. October 2, 1870; m. Lola Kirk, De- 
cember 24, 1890; d. November 16, 1897; m. 2d, 
Minnie Turner, August 15, 1899; 1. old homestead. ■ 
Samuel S., b. August 10, 1832; d. October 4, 1876, in 
Brasher, N.Y.;m. Mary L Harrington, April 18,1861. Had 
one child: 

Charles, d. aged three months. 
Phebe H., b. October 26, 1834; d. August 16, 1870; m. 
Horace H. Harrington, February 15, 1859; ^- J"'/ '^> 
1833, Canton, N. Y. No issue. 
Infant daughter, b. September 21, 1836. 
Martha M., b. September 23, 1837; 1. West Stockholm, 
N. Y. ; m. Thomas Western, January 4, 1862; b. March 
10, 1838, Converse, N. Y. Had three children: 
Henry E., b. May 3, 1871. 
Mary F., b. June 10, 1875; '^- J"'y ^S> 1876. 
Minnie A., b. March 7, 1879. 
Joseph B., b. February I, 1840; d. March 17, 1841. 
Sarah L., b. July 24, 1841; d. July z, 1900, in Minne- 
apolis, Minn.; m. William C. Kelsey, August z8, 1864; b. 
September 18, 1839. Insane, Rochester, Minn. Had three 
children : 

Phebe H., b. May 2, 1868; m. George H. Mar- 
quis; 1. Clear Lake, 8. D. 
George R., b. May 9, 1872; m. Sylvia Colby; 1. 

Milbank, S. D. 
Edith, b. February 2, 1875; m. Wilton L. Barclay; 
1. St. Paul. 
Joseph B., b. August 26, 1843; 1. Parishville; m. CaroUne 
Carbino, March 2, 1869; b. April 4, 1844. 
Lee, b. Lincoln, Vt., 1798; d. July 19, 1879; m. Harriet Hazel- 
ton, June 10, 1830; d. April 16, 1831; m. 2d, Martha W. Lock- 
wood, March 27, 1832; d. March 21, 1874. He took up a tract 
on the " middle road " soon after he was twenty-one. He built a 
fine stone house in 1 8 — , getting the stone at Fort Jackson. Was of 
medium height, spare and sharp featured. He was something of a 
hunter, frugal, industrious and one of the most successflil men of the 
town. His loyalty to the Union cause during the Civil War was 
very pronounced. Had one child by the first and six by the second 
marriage : 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Harry H., b. April 13, 1831; d. October 17, 1894; m. 
Annette M. Towle, December 25, 1871. Had two 
children: 

Harriet M., b. October 9, 1872; 1. Minneapolis, 
Minn.; m. Arthur G. Morey. Had one child: 
Adelaide E., b. March 9, 1899. 
Abigail T., b. October 13, 1874; d. July 9, 1892. 
Harriet M., b. December 11, 1833; '^- January 15, 1894; 

m. George S. Wright. (See his family.) 
George L., b. August II, 1836; d. November 11, 1891, at 
Potsdam; m. Eunice J. Merriam, b. January 7, 1850; 1. 
Potsdam. He was lieutenant in Co. B, 1 6th Regiment, in 
the Civil War, and postmaster at Potsdam at time of death. 
Mrs Eastman and son Lee are proprietors of the Potsdam 
Recorder. Had five children: 

Harry M., b. July i, 1873. 
Susan L,., b. December 17, 1875; teacher. 
Lee J., b. July 8, 1877; editor. 
Ruth Margaret, b. August 25, 1881. 
George L., b. August 6, 1887; 
Adelaide A., b. August 12, 1840; d. February 12, 1903; 
iji. Charles R. Holmes; 1. Potsdam. Mrs. H. was a fine 
lady and a most noble woman. Had one child: 
Mildred, b. August 29, 1883. 
Infant daughter, b. 1842; d. aged one week. 
Howard P., b. November 25, 1847; 1. Potsdam; m. Emma 
C. Faulkner, b. November 18, 1848; 1. Potsdam. Had 
seven children: 

Grace M., b. September 19, 1869; m. Dr. Jesse 
J. Foote; 1. Parishville. Had one child: 
Howard E., b. August II, 1893. 
Georgia F., b. September 22, 1872. 
Rose Wright, b. May 13, 1878. 
Adelaide A., b. October 17, 1879; m. Clinton 

Houghton, November 29, 1902. 
Marion L., b. March 16, 1882. 
Celestia L., b. March 16, 1882. 
Katherine I., b. January 30, 1893. 
Roswell H., b. October 28, i8;o; d. July, 1852. 
Roswell H., b. 1804; d. September 20, 1842; m. Mary Ann Poor, 
b. Madrid; d. February 7, 1843, aged twenty-eight. He con- 
ducted a tanner and currier's business on south side of the road in 
Hopkinton for some ten years, when he went on to a farm in Stock- 
holm for a year, and then to the farm next east of his brother Samuel, 
Jr., previously held by his brother-in-law, Eason Bachellor. The 
remains of old fireplace and walls are still prominent. Had four 
children: 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 481 

Alzina M., b. March zg, 1833, Hopkinton; 1. Pine Grove, 
III.; m. Samuel 8. Benson, August 16, 1871 ; b. May 4, l8zi. 
Caroline M., b. February 1835; m. Dan Wright Kimball, 
December 18, 1854; tl. 1883. Had five children: 
Dan E., b. 1857. 
Roswell, b. i860. 
Carrie, b. 1863. 
Nellie M., b. 1869. 
George, b. 1871. 
Betsey, b. 1838, Hopkinton; d. August 27, 1857, Beverly, ' 
Mass. / 

Catherine E., b. June 14, 1841, Stockholm; d. June 15, 
I 842, Hopkinton. 
Betsey, b. January 17, 1806; d. November II, i88z; m. Aaron \j 
T. Hopkins, May 3, 1827; b. November 19, 1800; d. Septem- 
ber 28, 1883. He was one of the leading men of Potsdam, and no 
one stood higher for probity and sterling worth or was more highly 
respected. Had six children: 

Emeline, b. February 25, 1828, Ogdensburg; d. April 2, / 
1895; m. John W. Ingalls, October 19, 1853; b. June 15, "^ 
1826, Whitehall; 1. New York City. Had five children: 

George H., b. August 28, 1854; 1. Whitehall; m. 
Dollie Wills, September 6, 1877; 1. Whitehall. 
Had two children: 

Charlotte E., b. June 2, 1886. 
Frederick J., b. September 26, 1889. 
Frederick H., b. February 14, 1857; 1. Sharon, 
Pa.;m. Minnie McGhie, July 28, 1878; m. 2d, 
Sarah Bowers, September 10, 1 90 1. Had two 
children by first marriage: 

Edith M., b. September 25, 1882. 
Florence E., b. December 2, 1884. 
Emeline, b. November 17, 1858, Whitehall; 1. 
Hopkinton; m. Sanford H. Chittenden, June I, 
1881. (See his record. ) 
John W., b. May 29, 1861, Whitehall; d. March 

7, 1881. 
Charlotte E., b. March 29, 1863, Whitehall; d. 
July 26, 1864. 
George, b. September 5, 1830, Potsdam; d. November 17, 

1852. 
Mary, b. May 7, 1832, Potsdam; d. January 31, 1899; ^• 
Joseph H. Sanford, May 17, 1854; b. May 2, 1831; \y 
Potsdam. He was a son of Joseph H., and born at Sanford- 
ville in Stockholm. His father moved to Potsdam, Decem- 
ber 24, 1824, when he was eleven years old, where he has 
ever since resided. Had seven children: 



482 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

'William H., b. October 10, 1855; d. January 29, 
1882; m. Sarah E. Roberts, October 5, 1876. 
Had two children: 

Frank Hopkins, b. March 31, 1878; d. 

March 31, I 891. 
Betsey Elmira, b. August 5, 1S80. 
Frank Hopkins, b. December 20, 1856; d. 

March 5, 1870. 
James Henry, b. March 2, 1858; d. August 27, 

1859. 
George Hopkins, b. September 3, 1859; '• Win- 
lock, Wash.; m. Ida Parsons, November 10, 1885; 
b. March 14, 1866. Had three children: 

Oscar Horace, b. February 25, 1887. 
George Hubert, b. February 15, 1890. 
Frank Harold, b. February 11, 1895. 
Mary E., b. October 31, 1863; teacher, Pueblo, Colo. 
Sarah E., b. March 20, 1866; 1. Binghamton, N. Y. ; 
m. Harry B. Sears. Had one child: 
Sanford C, b. July 13, 1901. 
Charlotte A., b. March 4, 1870; 1. Brooklyn, 
N. Y. ; m. George Sinsabaugh. Had one child: 
Mary, b. June 6, 1899. 
Sarah E., b. November 15, 1833; 1. Hopkinton; m. King S. 
Chittenden, October 10, 1857. No issue. 
JCalista E., b. June 3, 1836; d. August 25, 1877; "i- John 
T. Gill, May 9, 1855; b. May 10, 1828, Hamden, 
Conn.; d. June 12, 1867. Had two children: 

John T., b. September 23, 1861; 1. New Haven; 
m. Addie E. Russell, May 6, 1884; b. November 
7, 1863. Had two children: 

Ruth Calista, b. May 8, 1886, New 

Haven, Conn. 
Allen Russell, b. September 11, 1894, 
New Haven, Conn. 
George H., 1. New Haven, Conn.; m. Charlotte 
Bromley, June 17, 1890. Had one child: 
Aaron Hopkins, b. May 8, 1894. 
Charlotte C, b. September 3, 1840, in Potsdam; 1. New 
York City; m. George H. Allen, November 12, 1862; b. 
April 26, 1840, Granville, N. Y. Had one child: 

George M., b. August 15, 1863, at Whitehall; 1. 
New York City; m. Grace Fanshawe, June 3, 1896. 
Had one child: 

Loraine, b. July 6, 1898. 
Mary, b. 1807; d. April 21, 1881; m. Benjamin Reeve, November 
I, 1832. (See Erastus Reeve.) 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 483 

David, b. 1812; d. March 16, 1862, aged fifty years; m. Lorena 
Baldwin, d. November 22, 1862, aged fifty-three years. Lived 
across the road from his brother Samuel, Jr., and was quite a hunter. 
Went to California in I 849, lost his health and came back to the old 
farm where he died. Had five children: 

Sally, b. 1828; d. August 29, 1848. 

Betsey, b. 1831; d. April 3, 1847. 

W^illiam. 

Josephine (Mrs. J. Monroe Kennedy), d. February 17, 

1897. No issue. 
Caroline (Mrs. Horace Heath), d. in Wisconsin in 1882. 
Sophronia, b. 1810; d. September 17, 1839; m. Eason Bachellor, 
b. June 2, 1805. No issue. He m. 2d, Lucina Gray. (See 
Abijah Chandler. ) 
William E., b. December 16, 1812; d. December 13, 1887; m. 
Susan M. Covey, October l, 1834; b. November 16, 1816; d. 
March, 1889. Kept the home farm till his later years when he 
moved to Fort Jackson where he died. He rose to the rank of cap- 
tain in the militia, and was a very large, pordy man. Had nine 
children : 

Samuel, b. April 30, 1837; d. April 11, 1842. 
Maria A., b. March 31, 1839; d. April 18, 1842. 
Lorenzo C, b. February 17, 1841; d. April 14, 1842. 
Susan M., b. March 11, 1843; d. January 17, 1847. 
Sophronia, b. March 27, 1845; d. April 16, 1862. 
Royal S., b. March 17, 1847; 1. Norfolk Downs, Mass.; m. 

Libbie L. Secley. No issue. 
Samuel E., b. August 29, 1849; 1. Hopkinton, N. Y.; m. 

Harriet B. Sanford, December 21, I 87 I. 
Martin C, b. November 29, 1851; d. June 14, 1852. 
Florence A., b. September 13, 1861 ; 1. Wollaston, Mass.; 
m. Judson L. Smith. (See Smith record.) 

EBENEZER FROST, b. October 9, 1790, Brattleboro, Vt.; d. Janu- 
ary 26, 1863; m. Clarissa Chandler, April 28, 1817; b. March 28, 1796; 
d. June 24, 1 83 1; m. 2d, Caroline Harwood, October 24, 1831; b. April 
20, 1806; d. September 18, 1879. Both wives resided in Chesterfield 
(Lawrence). The first wife was the daughter of Abijah Chandler, one of 
the original pioneers. Mr. Frost's parents moved to Barton, Vt., where the 
son learned the blacksmith trade. During the War of 1 8 1 2 he attached 
himself to the army as a blacksmith. The war over he wended his way west 
on foot through the woods, with only now and then a cabin along the way, 
settling in Hopkinton village, where he proceeded at once to build a dam on 
Lyd Brook some fifty rods north of the main road, and also a trip hammer 
shop. A few pieces of this old dam and a large bowlder with a square hole 
in the top used in the shop still remain. In 1820 he moved to Canton, 
N. Y., and opened a shop, and in 1836, getting into some trouble with Silas 
Wright, went to Canada and after an elFort at Hawkesbury, Ont., and Hull, 



J 



484 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Quebec, settled in 1839 at Smith's Falls, where he opened a small shop for 
the manufacture of ploughs, kettles, etc., and steadily prospered. The little 
shop then started has become a great manufacturing industry and is known 
as the Frost and Wood Co., Ltd., employing over six hundred hands with 
branches all over the Dominion and in Europe. Two of his sons hold the 
positions of president and vice-president. Had two children by first and six 
by second marriage: 

Elvira, b. September 6, 1821, Canton, N. Y. ; 1. Smith's Falls; m. 
Russell W. Bartlett of Smith's Falls, December 4, 1844. Had three 
children, but all died in infancy. 
James Trussell, b. December 2, 1828; d. February 6, 1865; m. 
Jeannette Stinson, May 28, 1858; b. in Canton; d. April 28, 1868. 
Had three children: 

Helen Elvira, b. February 18, 1859; m. George F. Mc- 
Kim, January 30, 1889. Had four children: 

Charles Harwood, b. February 14, 1890. 
Helen Powell, b. September 23, 1891. 
Edwin Frost, b. March 4, 1895. 
Fred Gordon, b. November 21, 1 90 1. 
Caroline Lydia, b. January 15, 1861. 
James Edwin, b. July 15, 1863; m. Laura O. Meighen 
of Perth, Ont., June iz, 1900. 
Clarissa, b. July 29, 1832, Canton, N. Y. ; single. 
Edwin, b. July 30, 1834, Canton; d. January 31, 1852. 
•George, b. July 9, 1838, Hawkesbury, Ont.; 1. Plainfield, N. J.; m. 
Louisa Hunt of Chicago, December 3, 1868. He graduated from 
McGill College, Montreal, in I 861, as a civil engineer and in 1875 
at Chicago founded the Engineering Neivs, which he moved to New 
York City in 1880, where it has become the greatest engineering 
newspaper in the world. He is the president of the company. Had 
four children: 

Charles H., b. February 22, 1870; 1. Smith's Falls, Ont.; 
m. Marie G. Hemming, January 23, 1896, of Drummond- 
ville. Que. Had three children: 

Marion Louise, b. January 6, 1899. 
Emlyn Gertrude, b. February 6, 1902. 
Frances Dorothy, b. February 6, 1902. 
George Harwood, b. February 12, 1872, at Smith's Falls. 
He is manager for the Frost Wood Company, Limited, and 
located at 63 Queen Victoria Street, E.C., London, England. 
Edwin Hunt, b. July 23, 1874; 1. Plainfield, N. J. ; m. 

Sara M. Scribner of Yonkers, N. Y., October 8, 1902. 
Francis ^A/illoughby, b. March 23, 1876; 1. Plainfield, 
N.J. 
Charles, b. August 26, 1840; 1. Smith's Falls; m. Emily Harwood 
of Bennington, Vt., October 3, 1878; d. December 3, 1893. He 
succeeded his father in the care and management of the business and 
is the president of the company. No issue. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 485 

Francis T., b. December 21, 1843; I. Smith's Falls; m. Maria E. 
Powell of Madrid, N. Y., June 3, 1868. He joined his brother 
Charles in the conduct of the business and is the vice-president. He 
was elected to the Dominion Parliament in I 896 and held the posi- 
tion for five sessions, and in March, 1903, received the distinguished 
honor of an appointment to the Senate. No issue. 
William, b. November 10, 1847; 1. Smith's Falls, Ont. ; m. Fanny 
Burton of Manchester, Vt., June 6, 1877. In 1878 began the 
manufacture of malleable iron at Smith's Falls and has been very pros- 
perous, now employing two hundred and fifty workmen. He has 
also held various municipal and county offices. Had five children: 

Clarissa Adaline, b. July 27, 1878; 1. Passaic, N. J.; m. 
Frederick C. Clayton of Ottawa, Ont., September 18, 1900. 

Laura Agnes, b. May 2, 1881. 

Burton Hunt, b. October 28, 1883. 

Ebenezer Theodore, b. February 5, 1885. 

George Bartlett, b. February 9, 1890. 

JOEL GOODELL, b. January 6, 1 78 1, Hartford, N. Y. ; d. October 
21, 1869; m. Lydia Henderson, February 7, 1804; b. February 25, 1786; 
d. April 21, 1876. He was a pioneer of 1802, built a log house on the 
north end of his farm, where he hved six or seven years, then built a log 
house some thirty rods west of the present brick residence, and in I 8 I 7 built 
a two-story frame house where the brick one now stands. This was taken 
down by his son Joel about 1870, who built the present brick house. Had 
ten children: 

Betsy E., b. January 26, 1805; d. April 24, 1864, Hopkinton; 
m. Samuel McEvory. Had three children: 

Cornelius J., b. 1827; d. September 4, 1830. 
Mary M., b. 1829; d. September 18, 1830. 
Henry H., b. October i, 1830; d. February 2, 1892, 
O'Neil, Neb.; m. Eliza Bitney, April 27, 1850. (Incom- 
plete. ) 
John, b. September 22, 1806; d. July 16, 1874, Hopkinton; m. 
Achsa Smith, December, 1856; b. August 15, 1812; d. No issue. 
Lydia, b. October 29, 1808; d. June 26, 1893, Nicholville; m. i/^ 
Rev. Silas Pratt, December 3, 1829; b. July 9, 1802; d. April 12, 
1881. Had five children : 

Silas Judson, b. December 15, 183 l ; d. August 9, 1895, 
Chinese Cainp, Cal. ; m. Jane Norwood. Had three children: 
Norwood, Nellie and Clarence. 
Aaron Boardman, b. January 31, 1833; d. September 21, 
1898, Albany; m. Jane McEntee. No issue. He was a 
lawyer at Albany, N. Y., and stood well. 
Joel Wade, b. July 13, 1836; d. July 23, 1894, Hopkm- 
ton; m. Mary E. Humphrey, July 16, 1863; d. February 
25, 1900. Had six children: 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Luther J., b. October 13, 1864; d. February 13, 

1865. 
Judson L., b. October 13, 1864; d. January 21, 

1865. 
Howard W., b. January 28, 1870; 1. Buffalo; m. 

Harriet French, October II, 1899. 
Mary E., b. November 4, 1 872; teacher; 1. Earl- 

ville, N. Y. 
Anna B., b. July 18, 1877; 1. Potsdam; m. Frank 
Moulton, June 16, 1896. Had one child: 
Harold P., b. July 8, 1897. 
Nellie O., b. June 17, 1882; d. March 22, 1888. 
Fanny Mariah, b. October 29, 1838; 1. Hopkinton; m. 

David F. Henderson. (See Henderson family.) 
Lydia Adelphia, b. May 28, 1842; 1. Nicholville; m. 
Edwin D. Sanford. (See Sanford family.) 
Joel, Jr., b. August 22, 1810; d. February 14, 1893, Hopkinton; 
m. Rebecca S. Hawley, December 6, 1840; b. September 23, 
1817; d. November 11, 1868. He kept store for a time at Nich- 
olville (Hopkinton side), went to California, where he was success- 
ful, returned and bought old home farm, and built the present brick 
residence. Had six children: 

Amelia B., b. July 7, 1841; single; 1. Hopkinton. 
Eliza M., b. April 17, 1843; d. January 16, 1899, Hop- 
kinton. 
Mary E., b. September 29, 1846; 1. Nicholville, N. Y. 
Sarah M., b. December 9, 1849; d. June 6, 1850. 
Martha L.., b. October 18, 1852; m. Charles A. Sanford. 

(See Sanford family.) 
Kate H., b. July 3, 1857; d. December 20, 1858. 
Ann, b. July 13, 181 2; d. November 21, 1896, N. Lawrence; m. 
Ira Butler, March 12, 1848; b. June 18, 1803; d. December 9, 
1883. No issue. 
Melissa, b. March 17, 181 5; d. February 2, 1888, N. Lawrence; 

single. 
Elvira, b. May 14, 1817; d. January 26, 1892; m. Silas H. 
Leach, January 12, 1845; b. December 16, 1817; d. April 16, 
1879. Mr. Leach was born in Washington, Vt., came to town in 
1832, lived on farm in Dickinson from 1845 to 1853, then in Nich- 
olville twelve years, then two years on Joel Goodell farm, when he 
bought the farm now owned by his son, known formerly as the Samuel 
B. Abbott farm, and situated a hundred rods west of the Phineas Dur- 
fey farm. Had two children: 

John H., b. December II, 1845; 1. Hopkinton; m. Libbie 
M. Goulden, February 28, 1 899. Had one child: 
Paul Silas, b. April 17, 1900. 
Ellen, b. July 8, 1850; 1. Hopkinton. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 487 

Malinda, b. March 6, i8zz; d. August 18, 1831. 
Mary E., b. May 4, 1824; d. December 24, 1898, Knapps Station; 
m. Hiram Warriner, May 15, 1845; b. December 1, 1823; 1. 
Knapps Station, N. Y. Had three children: 

Orville S., b. July 18, [846; 1. San Francisco, Cal. (30ZZ 

Pine Street). 
Sarah A., b. September 10, 1850; 1. Knapps Station; m. 

Myron Morgan, September 28, 1882. No issue. 
Henry L., b. June 10, 1852; d. May I, 1885; m. Libbie 
B. WiUsie, June 14, 1876; 1. Lavvrenceville, N. Y. Had 
two children: 

Orville, b. December 22, 1877; 1. Grand Isle, Vt. ; 
m. Lucy Coughlin, September 4, 1899. Had two 
children: 

Henry, b. August 26, 1900. 
MaryE.,b. October 18, 1901. 
Fred, b. April 19, i88z. 
Fanny M., b. January 4, 1833; d. May 31, 1834. 

SAMUEL GOODELL, b. June 2, 1778, Salem, Mass.;d. May 10, 
1822; m. Delaney Woodworth, February 6, 1804; b. July 6, 1786, Cam- 
bridge, N. Y.; d. April 25, 1859. He was one of the six pioneers of 1802 
and built his cabin on the north end of his farm, but very soon built on the 
south end, where Josiah Smith now resides. He was a blacksmith and worked 
on Mr. Hopkins's gristmill in 1803, 1804. He built himself a shop just 
across the creek east from his house, and it was the /first blacksmith shop be- 
tween Malone and Ogdensburg. In i 8 1 8 he built a two-story frame house, 
which was used as a public house and for school and religious purposes more 
or less for many years. When the British took the flour in I 8 14 some of the 
officers compelled him to hitch up and carry them some distance on their re- 
turn. Of his children Rev. Seymour C. was the only one to remain and die 
in these parts. Had six children: 

Semantha T., b. July i, 1805; m. Horace Plummer. They went 
west and settled in Central City, Iowa, where they raised a large 
family. It has been impossible to learn any further particulars. 
James W., b. August 8, 1806; d. when a young man. 
Layton B., b. August 4, 1808; d. June 7, 1894, Edinboro, Pa.; m. 
Mary Goodell in 1828; d. June 17, 1877, aged seventy years. Had 
seven children: 

Caroline M., b. March 23, 1830; d. October 20, 1874; 
m. Martin Stafford, January, 1858. Had one child: 
George C, b. October 12, 1862; d. 1900. 
John W., b. August 22, 1833, Edinboro, Pa.; 1. Sedan, 
Kan.; m. Ruhannah Sherrod, October 2, 1859. Had four 
children: 

Fannie P., b. August 24, i860; 1. Edinboro; m. D. 
E. Gillaspie, April 24, 1879; banker. Had five 
children:. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Lena G., b. March 26, 1880. 
Jessie F., b. September 16, 1884; d. Sep- 
tember 14, 1886. 
Janet A., b. December i, 1887. 
Fannie L., b. April 15, 1892. 
Doris R., b. February II, 1896. 
Lena C, b. March 22, 1863; 1. Cedar Vale, Kan. 
M. Guy, b. July 10, 1867; 1. Denver, Colo. 
Clara D., b. December 24, 1868; 1. Arkansas City, 
Kan.; m. Edwin McCulIum Druiy, January 25, 
1898. 
Seymour C, b. August 22, 1833; d. October 8, 1834. 
James A., b. August 3, 1835; d. April 13, 1896; m. Clo- 
rinda Webster, October 2, 1856; 1. Mattoon, 111. Unable 
to give family. 
Mary A., b. August, 1838; d. August 25, 1839. 
^J Martha D., b. July 5, 1840; 1. BuiFalo; m. Alfred E. Wa- 
ters, September 10, 1856. Had three children: 

■ Flora M., b. July 25, 1857; d. November 25, 1857. 
Lay ton B., b. November 25, 1858; 1. Buffalo; m. 

Lavina Morton, June, 1892. No issue. 
Alfred H., b. July 25, 1866; 1. Buffalo; m. Frances 
Knapp, June 22, 1893. Had one child: 
Bently John, b. October 4, 1894. 
George S., b. May 18, 1842; 1. Edinboro, Pa.; m. Nancy 
Gleeton, 1870. Had three children: 

Ned, b. June 30, 1872; m. Have a son. 
Tod, b. June ;, i 875. 
Maud, b. 1 88 1. 
Delaney M., b. August 27, 181 l; d.June 20, I 838, in Hopkinton; 
m. Reuben Cooper. No issue. 
(^ Sally C, b. September 3, 1816; d. August 7, 1885, at Volga, Iowa; 
m. Israel Phillips, October 6, 1833; b. July 26, 1813; d. February 
14, 1873. They moved to Rockford, 111., in 1854, and then to 
Arlington, Iowa, about 1856, and settled at Volga City, where they 
died. Had nine children: 

^Al^illiam S., b. February 14, 1835; d. January 27, 1874; 
.. •' * m. Mary I. Finuf, April 16, 1853; b. January 21, 1835; 

d. February 7, 1898. Had four children: 

Marion M., b. May 22, 1854; I. West Union, 
Iowa; m. W. S. St. John, April 29, 1876; b. 
February 11, 1852. Had seven children: 

Ruth E., b. August 5, 1877; d. January 21, 

1898. 
Naomi, b. August 21, 1879. 
William Monroe, b. September 16, 1881. 
Freeman, b. March 3, 1885. 
Irving, b. July 20, 1887. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 489 

Lewis H., b. February 5, 1890. 
Walter S., b. July 1 1, 1892. 
William P., b. November 25, 1856; 1. Arlington, 
Iowa; m. Abbie Hall, November 7, 1875; b. 
November 25, 1856. Had three children: 
Goodell, b. June 5, 1877. 
Hattie, b. 1881. 
Leavitt, b. May, 1884. 
Israel J., b. November 17, 1858; 1. Elgin, 111.; 
m. Sarah Shafer, October 1, 1884; b. May 22, 
1864. Had one child: 

Leota, b. April 23, 1894. 
Erminie I., b. August 18, 1866; 1. Wisconsin; m. 
Rev. E. Cronk, 1894, at Arlington, Iowa. 
Ruth D., b. December 17, 1836; d. 1859; m. Chandler 
Hoit, 1853. They had a daughter who married a Mr. 
Warner and lived in Oregon. 
Amity L., b. May 27, 1839; d. July 7, 1842. 
Minerva E., b. Mav 16, 1841, Hopkinton; d. April 28, 

•853- 
Syrena R., b. August i i, 1843; m. John Wood, August 6, 

1864; d. July 18, 1876, in Iowa. They had a son and a 

daughter Mary, who married Chandler Warner, now of 

Dayton, Ore. 
Israel J., b. August 8, 1845, Hopkinton; d. January 18, 

■853- 
Samuel G., b. June 2, 1848; single; 1. Volga City, Iowa. 
Reuben W., b. June 20, 1850; 1. Volga City, Iowa; m. 
Catherine E. Smith, June 15, 1882; b. August 31, 1862. 
Had two children: 

Israel L., b. December 6, 1883. 
Harry G., b. May 3, 1886. 
Seymour H., b. September 5, 1855; single; 1. Volga City. 
The three brothers, Samuel G., Reuben W. and Seymour 
H., are the proprietors of the Mountain Home stock farm. 
Seymour C, b. August 28, 1818; d. January 24, 1893, on old 
homestead; m. Mary Witherell, December 8, 1839; b. September 
25, 1819; d. January 29, 1893. He was a Methodist minister and 
a capable man. 

CHARLES GIBSON, b. July 8, 1782; d. May 16, 1857; m. Rhoda 
Phillips, b. October 15, 1785; d. January II, 1 861. They were born 
near Boston and soon after marriage settled near Montpelier, Vt. , where they 
lived for a time, when they came to Hopkinton, or at least he did. George 
S. Wright tells me that Mr. Gibson first took up the hundred acres on the 
south side of the road, where his present residence stands. After making 
something of a clearing he sold his betterments to Caleb Wright and went 
over in the woods and settled on what is known as the Jonah Sanford, Jr. , 



49° 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 



homestead. His name does not appear among the pioneers who had dealings 

with Mr. Hopkins from March, 1803 to 1 807, yet he may have, and I 

think did, come during those years. His oldest granddaughter, Mrs. Mary 

M. Stone Williams, of Bradford, N. Y., says he remained two or three 

years, when he went back to Montpelier. He was certainly on the Sanford 

homestead in 1 8 1 1 , since I find he was elected overseer of highways for that 

district in that year. He built a log cabin in the dooryard a few rods north 

and east of the present house, which had an east and west room. He sold 

the place to Deacon Asa Moon in 1 8 19, and moved to the Capell road in 

Parishville, first farm southerly of the Daniel Hoyt place, where he lived 

till his death. The buildings have long since disappeared. Had nine children: 

John, b. October 16, 1808; d. 1866, Louisville Landing, N. Y. ; m. 

Fanny Ellsworth, b. 1815; d. 1888. Had eight children, but it 

has been impossible to get the record except as follows: 

Adelia M., Jenny M., Frances E., Silas, who married 
Ester A. McLee, who had four children: viz., John E. and 
Albert F., who married Emma J. Bartlett, and had a 
daughter. Ester Adelia; Charles D. and Fannie E., 
who married Frank Drake; John S., Horace E. and 
Eugene C, who married Fannie E. Wilson, who bore two 
children: viz., Edgar F. and Jessie Eugenia. 
Charles Carlos, b. November l, 181 l; d. August 29, 1892, La- 
fargar, Canada; m. Kate Triller. Had three children: 

Melissa, 1. Parishville, N. Y.; m. George Hoyt. Had two 
children: 

Carlos and Kate. 
Emily and Minerva. 
Minerva, b. August 19, 1813; d. July, 1882, at Bedford, N. Y. ; 
m. William Stone. Had three children: 

Mary Minerva, b. 1836; 1. Bedford, N. Y. ; m. James F. 
Williams, b. 1831; d. March 12, 1892. She was born in 
Parishville. After marriage lived five years in Hopkinton, 
when she went to Bedford. Had nine children: 

James F., b. October 21, 1856; 1. Springfield, 
Mass.; m. Clara Barrett, b. October 7, 185;. Had 
five children: 

Fred Barrett, b. August 16, 1885. 
J. Frank, b. September 16, 1886. 
Harry St. John, b. December 11, 1888. 
Mary Gibson, b. April 29, 1891. 
Carlos F'rost, b. October z8, 1894. 
Esther Minerva, b. July 10, 1858; d. July 4, 
1891; m. George W. Bedell, b. April 26, 1854. 
Had four children: 

Mary Edna, b. August i, 1887; d. Sep- 
tember 3, 1 889. 
Frances Villette, b. April 9, 1889. 
George Harold, b. May 23, 1891. 
Lillian Ruth, b. May 30, 1892. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 491 

Hattie A., b. March 4, 1863; 1. Mt. Kisco, N. Y.; 
m. Harry C. , b. October 20, 1861; d. De- 
cember, 1891. Had five children : 

H. Merrill, b. September 28, 1884. 
Samuel E., b. October 6, 1887. 
Mary F., b. July 19, 1889. 
Willard F., b. August 27, i8go. 
James W., b. October It, 1891. 
Lillie E., b. April 9, 1864; 1. Bedford, N. Y. ; m. 
Charles E. Hoyt. Had one child: 

Julia C, b. November 2, 1897. 
Annie Jane, b. May i, 1865; 1. White Plains, N.Y.; 
m. Bertram H. Fancher, b. December 15, 1865. 
Had one child: 

George Carleton, b. April 6, 1893. 
Fred A., b. December 23, 1866; 1. White Plains; 
m. Susan E. Clark, b. September 28, 1870. Had 
three children: 

Mary Elizabeth, b. October 29, 1895. 
John Francis, b. December 6, 1898. 
Lucy Clark, b. October 14, 1900. 
Phebe Frost, b. November 13, 1868; 1. Bedford; 
m. Palmer H. Lewis, b. August 17, 1868. Had 
two children: 

■William H., b. January 17, 1893; d. 

March 2, 1901. 
Mary Palmer, b. May 10, 1902. 
Lettie Butler, b. January i, 1870; 1. Bedford. 
William Davis, b. July 27, 1872; 1. Bedford. 
Charles, b. August 13, 1843; d. February 26, 190 1; m. 
Josephine Hayden, b. November 20, 1846. Had two 
children: 

Harvey, b. November 3, 1867; m. Abbie Arm- 
strong, d. September 19, 1899; m. 2d, Effie Mae 
Riggs. Had two children: 

Harold, b. April 7, 1899. 
Hildred, b. July zo, 1901. 
Leon, b. November 4, 1878; 1. Parishville; m. Ella 

, b. October 26, 1875. 

Frank, b. March 11, 1850; 1. Parishville; m. Ida Jaquish, b. 
August 29, 1853. Had two children: 

Gerald, b. May 19, 1882; d. July 21, 1899. 
Mary, b. April z6, 1888. 
Philo P., b. July 6, 1816; d. November 17, 1857, at Morley, 
N. Y.; m. Ellen Parker. Had two children: 
Charles and Frank. 
Jane M., b. January 26, 181 8; d. June 6, 1845, at St. Louis, Mo.; 
m. George Capell. No issue. 



492 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

James P., b. July 2, 1819; d. June 5, 1854, at Morley; m. Lucy 
McKuen. Had one child: 
James, d. 
HepsibalM., b. May 17, 1821; d. August 14, 1843; m. William 
Shepard of Parishville. No issue. 
/Mary B., b. November 18, 1823; d. November 18, 1849, at Mor- 
^ ley; m. William P. Whitney, d. December, 28, 1866. Had one 
child: 

William D., m. Theresa Pray; 1. Lowell, Mass. Had two 
children. 
Emily R., b. April 2, 1826; d. 1864, at Parishville; m. William 
Wilkinson, d. May 9, 1858; kept homestead. Had two children:' 
Charles, b. July 26, 1852; m. Lucy Spears. Had two 
children: 

William, b. March 18, 1882. 
Clarence, b. March 12, i888. 
Minnie, b. May 21, 1856; m. Frank Hoxie, b. May I, 
1855. 

HENRY C. GREENE'' (Rev. Henry', Job\ Henry ^ Benjamin 2, 
John'), b. Wallingfbrd, Vt. ; December 20, 1790; d. August 20, 1873, 
Parishville, N. Y. ; m. Clarinda Post, December 24, 181 1, Cornwall, Vt. ; 
d. August 12, 1837, Parishville, N. Y. ; m. 2d, Mrs. Myra Peck in Ma- 
lone; d. in Illinois, aged ninety-two. He settled on the Loren and George 
Smith farms about 18 17. Had five children by first marriage: 

Dr. Martin, b. January 20, 1813, Cornwall, Vt.; d. 1849; m. 

Mary Masters. Was surgeon in United States army eight years at 

Leavenworth, Kan., and went to Texas in 1845. Had two children: 

\Ai^illiam H., b. November 25, 1843; d. 

Charles R., b. 1845; 1. Corinth, Texas; m. three times. 

Had six children: 

Mary, b. January 13, 1879. 
Emma, b. January 13, 1879. 
W. H., b. 1881. 
Meribah, b. February 21, 1885. 
Charles R., b. November 25, 1887. 
1 Ruth, b. 1891. 

[ Meribah C, b. April l, 181;, Shoreham, Vt. ; 1. Potsdam, N. Y. ; 
m. David Daggett, January 2, 1838; b. August 9, 1809, Cornwall; 
d. May 21, 1891. Was a merchant in Hopkinton for a few years, 
then at East Stockholm a short time, and then at Parishville. Had 
four children: 

Clarinda, b. February 19, 1840, Hopkinton; 1. Potsdam; m. 
John A. Vance, August 16, 1864; b. October 8, 1836, 
Osnabruck, Ont. ; d. May 2, 1899. He was an attorney, 
deacon in Presbyterian Church, trustee of Normal School, 
surrogate of the county from January i, 1891, till his death. 
Had two children: 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 



493 



Carroll H., b. September 14, 1866, Parishville; 1. 

Malone, N. Y. ; m. Bertha M. Glanz, July 29, 

1893, Grand Rapids, Mich. 

Ethel M., b. February 15, 1871; 1. Potsdam, N. Y. 

Henry L., b. April z8, 1842, East Stockholm; 1. Parishville; 

m. Marion A. Church, November 24, 1869; b. May 9, 

1850. Had two children: 

Grace E., b. May 3, 1873; m. Clark F. Adams, 

September 14, 1897. 
Arthur D., b. August 27, 1876; m. Edith Collins, 
June 26, I goi . 
Mary E., b. November 19, 1844; 1. Potsdam, N. Y. 
Herbert M., b. October 19, 1846, in Stockholm; I. Elmira, 
N. Y. ; m. Myra S. Smith, December 15, 1869; b. Sep- 
tember 4; 1851. Had five children: 

Mabel Amelia, b. June 12, 1873, Parishville. 
Herbert Myron, b. April 20, 1875, Parishville; m. 

Jessie C. Eldred, September 6, 1901. 
Clara May, b. October 17, 1877, Parishville. 
Henry David, b. January 20, 1884, Potsdam; d. 

October 6, 1891. 
Gertrude Emorette, b. February 9, 1891, in El- 
mira, N. Y. 
Clarinda Lucretia, b. March 27, 1821, Hopkinton; 1. Ionia, 
Mich.; m. Martin Welch, b. June 5, I 7 14, Canaan, N. H. Had 
three children: 

Henry M., b. November 28, 1843; d. June, 1889, at Pots- 
dam, N. Y. Practised dentistry in Amorette Pond. 
Frances L., b. 1846; 1. Ionia, Mich.; m. N. A. Rich. 
Erean C, b. March 3, 1854; 1. Ionia, Mich. 
Henry, b. October I, 1823, Hopkinton; d. July, 1850, in Wiscon- 
sin; m. Mary Perkins. No issue. 
Rollin Sanford, b. April 14, 1826, Hopkinton; d. August 17, 
1901; m. Harriet Call (lives with her son). Had one child: 

Charles R., 1. Shelburne Falls, Mass. 1 

ROSWELL HOPKINS, b. May 17, 1757, Amenia, N. Y. ; d. Sep-"^ 
tember 5, 1829; m. Lidia Dewey, June 22, 1780; b. April 13, 1761 ; d. 
June 15, 1816; m. 2d, Mary Armstrong, 1829; d. August 27, 1850. At 
an early age he took part in the war of the Revolution and was present at the 
battle of Bennington, and also at the capture of Burgoyne near Stillwater. 
He held the position of lieutenant colonel in Col. Morris Graham's regiment, 
stationed at Fort Independence, and I think rose to the rank of brigadier-gen- 
eral. He was clerk of the Council of Safety. He was also a volunteer in 
two campaigns at West Point and vicinity. At the latter place he was taken 
prisoner and confined on board a British prison ship and eventually incarcerated 
at Newport, R. I., for a considerable period. He was released on parole 
near the close of the war and settled in Arlington, Vt. , where he resided un- 



494 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

til after he was appointed secretary of state, when he removed to Bennington, 
the then capital of the state, where he conducted the first drug store in the 
village. He was re-elected by the General Assembly for ten years, according 
to Dr. Hough and the inscription on his tombstone, but according to a memo- 
randum of his life evidently written by himself, handed to me by his great- 
grandson, Isaac R., he held this position for fourteen years. This memo- 
randum also states that he was a practitioner of physic, justice of the peace 
and clerk of the Addison County court, and that he moved into St. Lawrence 
County in 1803. He was the first justice of the peace in Hopkinton, having 
been appointed by Gov. Morgan Lewis in 1805, immediately on the organi- 
zation of the town, and nearly a year before the election of town officers. 
He was several times reappointed and also as a judge of the Court of Common 
Pleas. He was the first supervisor of the town and several times re-elected, 
besides holding other positions in the town. For four years, 18 10 to 181 3, 
he was elected to a seat in the legislature of this state. The inscription on 
his tombstone states that he was the first president of the St. Lawrence County 
Bible Society. As his life in Hopkinton is so fully given in the history of the 
town, reference is made thereto. According to the memorandum which I 
have, he was the third of eleven children. Had seven children: 

Roswell D., b. May 5, 1781; m. Mary Strong, September 12, 

1805; m. 2d, Sarah Ferris. His first wife was a daughter of Gen. 

Samuel Strong of Vergennes, Vt. Had ten children by first marriage: 

Gen. Roswell J., b. November 5, 1809. 

Mercy Maria, b. September 19, 1811; m. Thads. H. 

Laughlin. (See his family.) 
Hannah M., d. aged eighteen years. 

Lydia Ruth, b. January 3, 1814; m. Luman Moody, Octo- 
ber 20, 1834, of Canton, N. Y. ; 1. and d. at Canton, 
N. Y. Had three children: 

Mary Strong, b. July 22, 1835; m. Oswall R. 
Bogue, February 17, 1857; d. August lo, 1873, 
Chicago. Had three children: 

Luman M., b. January 17, 1858; 1. Denver, 

Col. ; m. Helen Creswell. Had two children: 

Genevieve C, b. August 20, 1890. 

Joseph C, b. March 13, 1892. 

Warren C, b. September 28, 1861; I. Salt 

Lake City; m. Annie Austin. Had four 

children: 

Warren C, Jr., b. Jime 14, 1888; 

d. July 19, 1888. 
Dora Watkins, b. November 18, 

1889. 
Mary A., b. July 7, 1891. 
Annette W., b. April 12, 1894; d. 
June 23, 1894. 
John H., b. June 18, 1867; 1. Chicago; m. 
Cora B. Reynolds. No issue. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 495 

Clarissa Maria, b. April 16, 1845; 1. Chicago, 111.; 
m. Charles H. Smith of Madrid, N. Y. Had four 
children: 

David E., b. December 20, 1867; 1. Min- 
neapolis; m. Alice C. Dyer, September 23, 
1896. He is a physician in that city. No 
issue. 
Samuel H., b. December 20, 1867; d. 

December 22, 1867. 
Ruth Lydia, b. June 24, 1874. 
• Mary Moody, b. March 18, 1878. 
Silas Wright, b. March 17, 1851; 1. Boise City, 
Idaho; m. Mrs. Alice Young, March 17, 1885. Is 
a practising lawyer. No issue. 
Samuel P., b. January 18, 1816; bachelor. 
Clarissa Elizabeth, b. March 6, 1818; d. aged five years. 
Mary Strong, b. December 4, 1821; m. Farrand Gaines. 
Sally Raymond, b. January 25, 1823; 1. Panton, Vt. ; m. 

Gerry Warner. 
William S., b. February 28, 1825; d. May 8, 1892; a 

bachelor; physician. 
George Wait, b. July 14, 1828. 
Benjamin W.,b. February 16, 1783; d. August 13, 1819, Havana, 
Cuba; m. Harriet Woodbridge, January 16, 1804; d. March 12, 
1870. After assisting and aiding his father in the Hopkinton project, 
he took a government contract to build some fortifications at Mobile 
Point, Ala. While engaged in this work he went to Havana, Cuba, 
on some errand on the schooner "Halifax," when he was taken sick 
with yellow fever and died. His father and Thaddeus Laughlin of 
Hopkinton were his bondsmen for the full performance of the work. 
For some reason which I do not learn judgments were taken against 
the bondsmen. His suretyship or his efforts to complete the contract 
of his son Benjamin caused him great loss and an endless amount of 
trouble. Directly after the son's death Roswell went to Mobile 
Point. (See diary September 20, 1 8 19.) After Benjamin's death 
Congress passed private bill number six, for the relief of his widow 
and children, appropriating ^13,270 less the amount of judgments 
against Roswell Hopkins and Thaddeus Laughlin. At this time his 
widow had married Moses Strong of Rutland, Vt. The foregoing 
facts I get from James Hopkins Gibbs, Esq., of Detroit, Mich., 
great-grandson of Roswell. He has letters and papers in his hands 
from which the information is taken. In them Benjamin W. is often 
called colonel. It is evident that he was a man of fine abilities and 
much force. (See diary for September 19 and 20, 1 8 19.) Had 
three children: 

Edwin W., b. February 4, 1805; d. June 29, 1850; m. 

Abigail Seymour, June 6, 1831. 
Maria A., b. June 14, 1807; m. Edgar L. Ormsbee. 
Helen J., b. March 15, 1814; d. July 5, 1815, Hopkinton. 



496 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Mary C, b. June 14, 1785; d, April 30, 1847, Ogdensburg; m. 
Artemus Sawyer, November 15, 1801; d. in Massena, N. Y. He 
was agent for Mr. Parish at Parishville. Had three children: 

Roswell H., b. April 25, 1803, Vergennes; d. 1879, New 
York City; m. Lucretia Miner of New York City. Had 
six children: 

Mary Elizabeth, d. ; m. Thomas D. Skinner of 

Ogdensburg. 
Lieutenant Colonel Roswell M., d. December 
28, 1863, St. Louis, aged thirty-one. Enlisted in 
1st Wisconsin as a private and rose to Adjutant Gen- 
eral of fifteen corps in Vicksbvirg campaign. Served 
through the war and then entered Regular Army as 
captain 25th Infantry. 
\A^illiam, Lucretia (who married Benjamin Kissam), 
Horace and Sarah. 
James A., b. July 29, 1805, Vergennes; d. September 27, 
1855, Malone, N. Y. ; m. Alzina Amsden of Malone. He 
was the agent for Mr. Parish for some time and built the stone 
store used by E. D. Brooks, and later by the Daggetts, in Par- 
ishville. Had five children: 

James W., b. May 7, 1830, Parishville; 1. Malone; 
m. Sarah P. Foote of Malone, October 26, 1858. 
Had four children: 

Nellie M., b. February, i860. 
Charles H., b. March, 1862. 
Thomas, b. June, 1866. 
Harriet M., b. January, 1868. 
Harriet L., b. July 3, 1833, Parishville; d. March 

26, 1899. 
Alzina M., b. August 8, 1836, Parishville; 1. 
Woodsville; N. H.; m. Charles B. Griswold of 
Lebanon, N. H. 
George A., b. June 18, 1838, Parishville; d. April 
28, 1902, Malone; m. May L. G. Skinner of 
Ogdensburg. 
Lucretia M., b. April 29, 1840, Parishville; d. 'Janu- 
ary 16, 1884; m. Tyler Westgate of Haverhill, 
N. H. 
Harriet M., b. September 8, 1807, Vergennes; d. 1883, 
Ogdensburg; m. Dr. H. D. Laughlin. (See Laughlin 
family.) Had one child: 

James (man grown, single); d. during the sixties. 
Isaac R., b. January 28, 1788, Ferrisburg, Vt. ; d. March 12, 
1853; "'■ Sophia Woodbridge, March 14, 1812, Vergennes; d. 
January 4, 1857. Had seven children: 

Roswell, b. February 5, I 81 3; d. March 24, 1888, single. 

Lived and died on old homestead in Hopkinton. 
Eliza, b. January 18, 181 5; d. June 30, 1815. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 497 

Jane E., b. July 14, 1817; d. March 17, 1884; single. 
Enoch 'W., b. December 17, 1818; d. December 7, 1862, 

Graysonville, Cal. ; m. Marion Allen of Ogdensburg. 
George W., b. July 30, 1822; d. April 9, 1823. 
Dr. Francis W., b. September 30, 1824; d. September 

16, 1886; single. 
Frederick I., b. November 5, 1825; d. July 19, 1900, 
Fort Jackson; m. Kate M. Kent, November 17, 1851; 1. Fort 
Jackson. Had two children: 

Isaac R., b. August 17, 1853; 1. Hopkinton; m. 
Eva P. Chittenden, December 29, 1885. Owns the 
Hopkins homestead. Had three children: 
Marion, b. September 28, 1890. 
Roswell I., b. April 29, 1896. 
Ralph C, b. April 29, 1896; d. May 29, 
1898. 
Katie ^V., b. December i, 1859; d. December 24, 
1879. 
George, b. March 13, 1791; d. October 12, 1820, Columbus, 

Ohio; m. Harriet E. Newcomb, September 28, 1819. 
Sally, b. June 11, 1796; d. December 27, 1842, at Potsdam; m. 
Sewall Raymond, July 7, 18 14; b. August 30, 1786; d. July 31, 
1866. They were married at Hopkinton, Thursday evening, July 7, 
1814, by Rev. Ashbel Parmelee. Mr. Raymond was one of the 
leading and influential citizens of Potsdam. Had seven children: 
Roswell Hopkins, b. June 9, 1816; d. June 12, 1816. 
Lydia, b. May 27, 181 7; d. December 13, 1890; ni. John 
F. Rosseel, d. July 21, 1888. He was the second son of 
Joseph Rosseel of Ogdensburg and agent of Mr. Parish at 
Parishville after the death of Mr. Artemus Sawyer, and at 
Ogdensburg after the death of his father. Had five children, 
three of whom are living: 

Fanny E., b. April 24, 1851. 
Joseph, b. January 22, 1858. 
Frank R., b. March 16, i860. 
Hannah, b. January 11, 1819; d. May I, 1837. 
Harriet Elizabeth, b. June 2, 1822; d. August 3, 1824. 
George Blackmer, b. October 23, 1824; d. June 24, 

1897, Potsdam; m. Harriet Goulding, September 28, 1848; 
b. December 3, 1827; 1. Potsdam. Had two children: 

Charles Blackmer, b. February 3, 1850; d. No- 
vember 20, I 856. 
William Sewall, b. March 17, 1854; 1. Potsdam. 
James S., b. June 13, 1827; physician in Ogdensburg; m. 
Helen Partridge, b. May 30, 1830, Potsdam; d. May 13, 

1898. Had four children: 
Julius B., d. aged six months. 
Sarah Y., b. January 23, 1859; single. 



498 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Mary E., b. June 6, 1862; 1. South Bend, Wash.; 

m. W. H. Proctor. 
George S., b. May 19, 1866; single. 
Sally, b. May 29, 1830; d. June 1 I, 1830. 
James G., b. June 15, 1801; d. July 6, 1861, at Saratoga Springs; 
m. Elizabeth Rosseel, October 23, 1832. Had three children: 

Louisa Rosseel, b. March 20, 1835; d. March 27, 1894, 
y Detroit; m. Calvin W. Gibbs, October 13, 1858; d. April 
26, 1879. Had seven children: 

James Hopkins, b. August 28, 1859; 1. Detroit; 
' m. Ida F. Moore, November 18, 1880. Had three 

children: 

Frederick Rosseel, b. May 28, 1882. 
Fannie Louise, b. May 8, 1885. 
Dorothy Helen, b. March 24, 1895. 
Louis Kimball, b. November, 1862; single; 1. De- 
troit. 
Calvin W., b. August 16, 1867; d. November 3, 
1893; m. Susan Stewart, November 7, 1888. Had 
two children: 

Lauretta, b. June 10, 1890. 
Gailey Louise, b. October 25, 1892. 
Louisa Rosseel, b. March 19, 1873; 1. Detroit. 
Elizabeth Rosseel, died in infancy. 
Ross Campbell, died in infancy. 
Joseph Rosseel, died in infancy. 
James Waite, b. August 9, 1837; d. February 22, 1863; 
m. Jane Russell, October 23, i860; 1. Detroit. He was a 
second lieutenant in io6th New York Volunteers and died at 
Martinsburgh, W. Va. 
Joseph Rosseel, died in infancy. 

DAVID HENDERSON, b. July zi, 1756, Fitchburg, Mass.; d. May 
8, 1 83 1; m. Lydia Fitch, b. Groton, Conn., October 14, 1760; d. June 
26, 1834. He settled in spring of 1814 and lived till he died in 1831 a 
mile south of Nicholville on the farm now known as the Nelson Lindsay 
farm. The house he built there is still standing and in use. He was a sol- 
dier in the Revolutionary War. Had seven children: 

Chester, b. December 18, 1780, at Salem, N. Y. ; d. 1845, Fort 

Edwards, N. Y. 
Anna, b. June 20, 1782, Kingsbury, N. Y. ; d. 1845, at Fort Ed- 
wards, N. Y. ; m. Eben Thompson. 
David, Jr., b. March 9, 1784. Left home in 1806 and was never 

heard of afterwards. 
Lydia, b. February 25, 1785; d. April 21, 1876; m. Joel Goodell, 
Sr., of Hopkinton, N. Y. (See his family.) 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 499 

John, b. May 23, 1788, Kingsbury, N. Y. ; d. May 21, 1849; m. 
Fanny Gove; m. 2d, Aha Sheldon, Hopkinton, N. Y. (See his 
record. ) 

Henry, b. December 19, 1796, at Hartford, N. Y. ; d. February 10, 
1883, at Greene Cove Springs, Fla. He was a sailor and captain of 
ocean vessels for years. 

Narcissa, b. February 25, 1801; d. February 27, 1887, Middle- 
port, N. Y. ; m. John Pomeroy in 1819; d. Norfolk, N. Y., in 
1850. Mr. Pomeroy came to Hopkinton in 181 5. He was a good 
carpenter and took charge of or assisted in building the T. H. Laugh- 
lin, Artemus Kent, Deacon Culver and other residences. He"made 
his home in Nicholville till his health failed, when Asa Durrell, for- 
merly of Hopkinton, gave him a home till his death. They had a 
family of two daughters and six sons, one of whom, Jesse H. of St. 
Paul, married Lucretia Brush, daughter of Eliphalet Brush. 

JOHN HENDERSON, b. May 22, 1788; d. May 12, 1849; m. 
Fanny Gove, October i, 1826; b. October 29, 1803, Swanton, Vt. ; d. 
March 5, 1833; m. 2d, Alta Sheldon, b. September 21, 1804, at Hopkin- 
ton; d. August 28, 1890. He was with the army about Lake Champlain in 
the War of 1 8 1 2 as an assistant and helper, though not an enlisted soldier, 
owing to ill health. On the close of the war he followed his father, David 
Henderson, to Hopkinton in 181 5. For his second wife he took Miss Alta 
Sheldon, daughter of Oliver, who, it is claimed, was the first child born in 
Hopkinton, or at least the first female child. Had two children by first and 
four by second marriage: 

John Henry, b. November 10, 1827; residing in Hopkinton; m. 
Alzina A. Thomas, September 29, 1852; b. December 27, 1834, 
Wilna, N. Y. ; d. August I, 1883. He has taken a great interest in 
the preparation of this work and has assisted freely and kindly on many 
occasions. Had three children: 

Fanny S., b. January 2, 1854; d. July 24, 1878; m. Wil- 
liam Hunter, b. August 12, 1846; 1. Hopkinton. Had two 
children: 

Gertie E., b. January 17, 1875; 1. Saranac Lake, 

N. Y. 

Mary V., b. August 7, 1876; 1. Saranac Lake, N. Y. 

Katie E., b. September I, 1858; 1. Hoquiam, Wash.; m. 

Patrick J. Ryan, b. January 15, 1852; were divorced; m. 

2d, George Clark, b. July I, 1846. Had one child by first 

marriage: 

Claude O., b. April 29, 1878. 
Wilbur S., b. March 19, i860; 1. Salt Lake City; m. Leah 
Cook, b. October 14, 1868, Springville, Utah. Had five 
children: 

Earl C, b. August 2, 1891, Springville, Utah. 
Blanche, b. December 27, 1892, Salt Lake City. 
Martha, b. August 11, 1894. 



500 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Leah, b. August 31, 1896. 
John Henry, b. April 26, 1898. 
David F., b. April 30, 1830; 1. Hopkinton, N. Y. ; m. Fanny M. 
Pratt, September 14, 1857; b. October 29, 1838. Mr. H. is 
a bright, intelligent, polished man, has been often complimented with 
town positions, and is highly esteemed and respected. Had four 
children: 

Frank, b. August 9, 1858; d. August 10, 1858. 
Frances M., b. August 17, 1859; d. November 16, 1862. 
Frederick G., b. April 11, 1861; 1. Hopkinton; m. Hannah 
M. Lindsay, March 20, 1890; b. August 19, 1862. No 
issue. 
KittieA., b. April 27, 1867; 1. Hopkinton; m. Charles O. 
Meacham, November 23, 1887; b. November 8, 1864. 
Had one child: 

Mildred, b. December 2, 1899. 
Chester S., b. December 19, 1834; d. August 31, 190Z, at Ohio, 
Colo.; m. Adaline Bickford, 1862. Had one child: 
Belle, b. March 8, 1867; I. Denver, Colo. 
Fanny M., b. July 18, 1837; d. February 4, 1842. 
Philo Gilbert, b. April 8, 1841; d. February 15, 1886, in Hop- 
kinton; m. Kate Lindsay, January 17, 1875; b. November 26, 1855. 
Had two children: 

Jessie Alta, b. October 16, 1875; 1. Detroit, Mich.; m. 
Paul C. Worth, Toledo, Ohio, December, 1898. No issue. 
Ray G., b. March 22, 1877; 1. Richland Center, Wis. 
Sarah Jane, b. July 28, 1842; 1. Richland Center, Wis.; m. Ed- 
win A. Dove, May 2, 1879; b- April 15, 1840. No issue. Her 
mother, Alta, the first female child born in town, lived with them in 
her last years and died at their home in Richland Center. 

EZEKIEL JENNIE, b. April 29, 1780; d. May 26, 1870; m. 
Thankfiil Rasey, September II, 181 I; b. September I, 1794; d. October 
I I, 1872. Came from Jay, Essex County, and settled a half mile south from 
Turnpike, where Asahel Jennie now resides, in June, 1830. Had ten 
children: 

Aaron, b. October I, 1812; d. November 7, 1845; single. 
Philana, b. January 17, 181 5; d. January 19, 1850, in Pierrepont, 
N. Y. ; m. Alex. Bradley, October 9, 1834. Had four children: 
Elisha, Orson, Aaron and Diena. 
Abigail, b. December 21, 1817; d. December 2, 1898, in Chicago; 
m. Stephen Miller, January 30, 1838. Had nine children: 

Philip, Harriet, Charles, Louisa, Anna, Evaline, 
Mary, Louandia and Betsey. 
Lydia, b. March 29, 1820; d. October 10, 1878, in Michigan; m. 
Anson Rose, January 12, 1843. Had three children: 
Louraney, Thankful and Jane. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 501 

Lecta, b. November 25, 1822; d. October 16, 1875, in Hopkinton; 
m. Harry Smith, October 11, 1853. Had four children: 
Benjamin, Jane, Friend and Miranda. 
Asahel, b. April 4, 1825; 1. Hopkinton; m. Priscilla Powers, March 
1 I, 1847. He keeps the old home place. Had six children: 

Orrilla T., b. December zo, 1848; m. Wilbur Smith, De- 
cember 2, 1874. Had four children: 

Etta L.., b. December 26, 1875; ""• J°hn A. Cor- 
win, January 21, 1899; 1. Hopkinton. Had one 
child: 

Anice, b. October 14, 190 1. 
Nettie, b. January 9, 1877. 

Henry, b. August 27, 1878; m. Maude Snell, Janu- 
ary 8, 1902. Had one child: 

Helen, b. September 30, 1902. 
Riley, b. August 29, 1886. 
George A., b. January 29, 1850; m. Ettie Fletcher, January 
7, 1877. Had three children: 

William, b. July 21, 1879; m. Grace Coon, Sep- 
tember 18, 1 90 1. 
Asahel, b. December i, 1883. 
Edith, b. November 14, 1886. 
Lucena H., b. June 14, 1853. 
Varick E., b. November 21, 1856; d. August 24, 1 880; 

m. Evaline Peck, September 19, 1878. 
Alice A., b. November 14, i860; d. January 30, 1 88 I. 
Adelbert A., b. January 16, 1867; m. Clara C. Rockwood, 
November 27, 1895; 1. Hopkinton. Had one child: 
Lawrence E., b. May 20, 1897. 
Joel, b. September 3, 1827; d. a babe. 
Lucina, b. June 22, 1828; d. March 25, 1842. 
Safrona, b. May i, 1829; d. February 25, 1845. 
Jackson, b. June 2, 1832; d. December 22, 1861, on his way home 
from war; m. Rachel Vanorman, September 11, 1856. Had two 
children: 

Herbert and Elmer. 



ARTEMAS KENT, b. Dorset, Vt., August 31, 1788; d. August 21, 
1877; m. Sally Wead of Hinesburg, Vt., December 10, 181 8; d. April 
21, 1842; m. 2d, Rhoda Winslow, in 1845; d. June 28, 1875. He left 
home October 12, 1809, and came by way of Utica and Black River, reach- 
ing Hopkinton, November 30. He bought the tract across the road from 
the Truman Post farm, and soon returned to Dorset. On February 27, 
1810, he again set out with horse, cutter and some effects, reaching Esq. 
Laughlin's in eight days, where he remained till April 25, when he began 
chopping on his land. While at this he boarded with Reuben Post. Mr. 
Post bought the Post farm in 1808, and was then living there in the frame 
house still standing and used by the tenant. He cut fifteen acres at this time 



502 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

and worked by the day and job for others till November I, when he returned 
to Dorset. In March, 1 8 1 1 , he and his brother Trussell set out with yoke 
of oxen, sled and some goods, reaching Hopkinton safely after a time. His 
brother, being sick, returned early in June, but he kept at work clearing his 
land till December, when he began school-keeping in the west district for 
three months. This was in the Caleb Wright district, and the first log 
schoolhouse stood just across the north road east from Mr. Wright's. When 
school was over he continued the clearing of his land till winter, when he 
took passage in Harwood's sleigh for Dorset. In January, 1812, he returned 
with horse and cutter and lived with Ehsha Risdon. Mr. Risdon married 
Amanda Post in 181 i, and at once moved into the log house, on Potsdam 
road, which his father-in-law, Reuben Post, bought of Joseph Armstrong with 
the " Post farm." This made Mr. Kent a tramp ot nearly a mile across the 
fields from his farm to his boarding place. He taught the same school again 
till February 7, 1813, when he took charge ofThads. Laughlin's hotel while 
he went to Middlebury to attend his parents who were sick. In the spring 
of I 8 I 3 went into partnership with Thads. Laughlin. He got title to the 
Kent home lot in the village, October 9, 181 5, still held by his daughter, 
Adaline. Mr. Kent practised law in local courts, took an active part in 
church matters, and was a most useftil and highly respected citizen of the 
town. He was a cousin of the celebrated jurist, James Kent. The forego- 
ing data are largely taken from Mr. Kent's own diary. Had ten children: 
Julia H., b. October 2, 1819. 
Huldah, b. March 2 1, 1821; d. April 12, 1821. 
Ellen J., b. April 27, 1822; d. April 6, 1823. 

Ellen J., b. December 22, 1823; d. April 22, 1902, Detroit Mich.; 
m. Edwin C. Hinsdale, b. July 30, 1821, Hinesburg, Vt. ; d. June 
12, 1894. He was a lawyer and treasurer of Detroit eight years. 
Had three children: 

Dorothy, b. July 22, 1853; d. December 30, 1854. 
Genevieve S., b. September 28, 1855. 
Mary C, b. December 2, 1857. 
Adeline S., b. December 5, 1825; living at old homestead. 
Dr. Henry B., b. September 8, 1827; d. October 19, 1893; m. 
Phebe V. Miller, 1864; b. August, 1838; d. October 12, 
1891. He pracdsed medicine in New York City for thirty-five 
years. Had three children: 

Henry B., Jr., b. May i, 1866; 1. New Brunswick, 
N. J.; m. Mary E. Kane, February 24, 1894. Had one 
child: 

Virginia P., b. November 26, 1894. 
Adeline S., b. April 14, 1868, Detroit, Mich.; m. Dr. 

William R. Chittick, April 30, 1894. No issue. 
Virginia P., b. February 25, 1 870; 1. Berlin, Germany; 
m. Louis J. Magee, February 16, 1895. No issue. 
Fred H., b. November 12, 1831; bachelor; 1. Detroit, Mich. He 
was a hardware merchant at Sterling, 111., for twelve years, and ten 
years member of Chicago Board of Trade. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 503 

Mary H., b. October 10, 1833; single; 1. Detroit, IVIich. 

Charles A., b. October 11, 1835; I. Detroit, Mich.; m. Frances 
E. King, April 30, 1874. No issue. He is a lawyer of most 
excellent standing at Detroit and was law professor at Ann Arbor 
University for eighteen years. 

Harriet M., b. October 15, 1839; <^- April 2, 1898. 

ASAHEL KENT, b. October 17, 1779, Dorset, Vt. ; d. July 23, 1866; 
m. Olive Dunton, b. January 29, 1785, Dorset, Vt.; d. April 9, 1826; m. 
zd, Charlotte Sheals (;/cV Nichols), b. Mav 6, 1791, Jamaica, Mass.; d. 
June z8, 1861. Settled and lived on the point formed by the union of the 
" Sanford road " with the Turnpike, afterwards known as the E. Harmon 
Risdon place. Came to town 18 14 with an ox team and few goods. 
Had nine children by first and three by second marriage: 

Flora, b. March 10, 1805, Burlington, Vt. ; d. September 30, 1869; 
m. Isaac Snell, September 1, 1827; b. August 8, 1800; d. Janu- 
ary 6, 1882. Lived on south side of Turnpike opposite the old red 
schoolhouse and had a blacksmith shop down on the road and close to 
the brook with a frame outside of shop for swinging oxen to shoe 
them. Cleared his farm of one hundred acres where he lived. Had 
six children: 

John Milton, b. June zo, 1829; d. September 20, 1890, in 

old home; m. Elnora Gouldin, September 11, 1853; m. 

zd, Martha Gouldin, October 15, 1884. Had five children: 

Frederick H., b. March ii, 1855; 1. Mentor, 

Ohio; m. Cora Lucas, 1885. Had three children: 

William, Helen and Elnora. 

Nellie F., b. November 15, 1858; 1. Adams, 

Mass.; m. Eugene Delancey. 
Addison, b. June 20, i860; 1. Adams, Mass.; m. 
Adah Kimpton, October 25, 1888; d. ; m. 2d, Jennie 
Kay, June 8, 1898. Had two children: 
Guy and Roy. 
Milton, Jr., b. February 15, 1 874; 1. Hopkinton; 
m. Elsie Conlin, February 12, 1899. Had two 
children: 

Malcolm and Milton. 
Grace Elnora, b. December 14, 1875; 1. Parish- 
ville; m. Thomas Tucker, May zi, 1893. Had 
three children: 

Constance, Regnald and Melba. 
Olive K., b. December 28, 1830; 1. Webster City, Iowa; 
m. N. L. Gardner, October 23, 1854, of Berea, Ohio; d. 
June 30, 1889. Had three children: 

Nettie, b. August 25, 1855, Berea; 1. Webster City; 
m. O. O. Hall, August 27, I 877. Had two children: 
Delia, b. April 9, 1878; d. 1898. 
James, b. 1881. 



504 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Georgiana, b. 1865; d. in infancy. 
George N., b. February 9, 1868; 1. Webster City; 
m. Clara Munson, February 22, 1893. Had one 
child: 

George Lawrence, b. March 25, 1902. 
Franklin B.,b. June 24,1832;!. Columbia, Ohio;m. Jennie 
Thompson, October 23, 1861. Had four children: 

Herman, b. November 23, 1862; 1. Columbia, 
Ohio; m. Hattie Mandville, April 6, 1 89 1. Had 
one child: 

Mary, b. 1893. 
Flora, b. April 26, 1865; 1. Burbank, Ohio; m. John 

T. Hoak, September 6, 1893. No issue. 
Lulu, b. December 17, 1877; single; 1. Columbia, 

Ohio. 
John F., b. April i, 1881. 
Caroline A., b. September 7, 1835; d. 1867, Middleburg, 
Ohio; m. Parley Bassett in 1857; d. 1895. Had one child: 
Clarence, b. i860; d. aged six weeks. 
Mary M., b. May 2, 1840; I. Parishville; m. Thomas 
Dow, December 15, 1874; d. December 15, 1875. Had 
one child: 

Ella Violet, b. October 26, 1875; 1. Parishville; m. 

Leon Stone, November 15, 1899. 

Hiram K., b. November 14, 1844; 1. Madison, Ohio; m. 

Emma Smith, March 7, 1869. Enlisted in Co. B, 8th 

New York Cavalry, in September, i 864, and discharged July 

I, 1865. Had three children: 

Judson W., b. June II, 1 870; 1. Madison, Ohio; 
m. Winnifred Norton, June 2, 1898. Had one 
child: 

^Vayne Donald, b. April 20, 1901. 
Florentine A., b. June 6, 1871; 1. Geneva, Ohio; 

m. Thomas Patrick, October 18, 1901. 
Sanford S., b. April 20, 1875; teacher. La Junta, 
Cal. 
Rhoda, b. Burlington, Vt., February 17, 1807; d. February 29, 

1880; m. Dr. Gideon Sprague. (See his family.) 
Austin, b. Burlington, Vt., April 27, 1809; d. 1876; m. Louisa 
Bullene. They resided in Stockholm. Had one child: 
Edgar, resides in Oakes, N. D. 
Harmon, b. Burlington, Vt., in 181 I ; d. in infancy. 
J Abigail, b. September 18, l 8 l 2, Burlington, Vt. ; d. January 6, i 868 ; 
m. Nathaniel B. Goodnow, b. September 17, 1808, Louisville; d. 
May, 1885. Was a tanner and currier at Hopkinton. Had eight 
children: 

Mary K., b. September 7, 1837, Ottawa; d. January 3 1 , 
1874, Norfolk; m. James Munson, d. 1888. Had one 
child: 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 



505 



Cassie A., b. November 12, 1867; I. Webster City, 
Iowa; m. George Gardner, February 22, 1893. 
Had one child: 

George Lawrence, b. March 19, 1902. 
Charles K,, b. January 12, 1839, Ottawa; I. Hutchinson, 
Minn.; m. Eunice C. Stearns, May 6, 1869. Had five 
children: 

Morton S., b. July 4, 1870; 1. Hutchinson; m. 
Caroline L. Day, September 7, 1897. Had two 
children: 

Donald D., b. August 21, 1899. 
Dorothy M., b. May 3, 1902. 
Virgil P., b. March 31, 1872; 1. Buffalo Lake, 

Minn.; m. Phebe E. Morrison, January 4, 1899. 
Grace G., b. January 18, 1874; 1. Hutchinson. 
Charles DeForest, b. October 10, 1879; 1. Biscay, 

Minn. 
Warren Burt, b. March 8, 1881; 1. Hutchinson. 
Maria L., b. October 9, 1840; m. Warren J. Ives, b. Feb- 
ruary 22, 1838; d. March 2, 1899. Had six children: 

Ella F., b. December 9, 1859; 1. Glenco, Minn.; 
m. Frank D. Stocking, June 27, 1888. Had two 
children : 

Warren W., b. December 25, 1890. 
Amy F., b. June 2, 1893. 
Fred W., b. April 13, 1862, Hopkinton; 1. Hutch- 
inson. 
Hallan Burt, b. October 14, 1873; 1- Helena, 
Mont.; m. Lola Brown, December 25, 1895. No 
issue. 
Matt C. G., b. September 14, 1875; 1. Helena. 
Genevieve A., b. August 21, 1879; 1. Hutchinson. 
Violet May, b. May 17, 1883; 1. Hutchinson. 
Edgar, b. March, 1843; d. May 5, 1844. 
Judson H., b. July, 1845; d. September 22, 1847. 
Augusta R., b. August 22, 1847; 1. Hutchinson; m. Aaron 
J. Hamilton, September, 1870. Had two children: 

Grace A., b. January 10, 1875, Hopkinton; 1. Hutch- 
inson; m. W. D. Longfelt, August 29, 1 901. 
Anna M., b. January i, 1877; 1. Springfield, Minn.; 
m. C. E. HufF, November 7, 1901. 
Marcus A., b. February, 1850; d. December, 1853. 
Fred S., b. August, 1852; d. October, 1854. 
William, b. February 25, 1815, Hopkinton; d. February 20, 1873; 
m. Ann Robinson, d. January 3, 1862; m. 2d, Lodoskie M. Witters, 
b. August 19, 1832; d. July 19, 1890. Had three children by first 
and one by second marriage: 



/ 



5o6 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Ellen M., b. April 6, 1845; 1. Fargo, N. D.; m. Rowlund 
1/ Johnston, b. April 7, 1847. Had one child: 

■William, b. May 15, 1870; m. Anna Vaughn, b. 
February 24, 1868. Had one child: 

George H., b. February 22, 1889. 
Judson B., b. June 23, 1849; 1. Buckton, N. Y.; m. Emma 

J. Merrill, in 1873. No issue. 
Charlotte E., b. October 20, 1850; d. August 29, 1876. 
Maud L., teacher; 1. Somerville, Mass. 
Olive, b. September 19, 1817; d. March 22, 1875; m. William 

Woodward, Stockholm. No issue. 
Waity, b. March 20, 1819; d. February 23, 1897; m. WiUiam 
Manley, Dorset, Vt. Had one child: 
Fred, b. in Manley, Vt. 
Huldah, b. June 2, 1822; d. December 7, 1891; m. Calvin Tilden, 
b. 1824; d. July 30, 1869; m. 2d, Nathaniel B. Goodnow, March, 
1870; d. May, 1885. Had four children: 

Florence K., b. 1850; 1. Winthrop, N. Y.;m. Wesley 
Munson, July 8, 1869; b. 1844. Had ten children: 

Carrie, b. August 25, 1870; m. Parker Rose in 1892. 
Had three children: 

Carl P., b. April 26, 1893. 
Mildred L., b. January 2, 1 897. 
Marion F., b. October ia, 1899. 
Ernest, b. May 19, 1872; m. Mellrose Hall, 1896. 
Had one child: 

Arthur ^A/., b. August 24, 1901. 
Burton, b. November 28, 1873. 
Hal, b. April 26, 1876. 
Cora, b. April 20, 1880; m. Orlo Ware in 1899. 

No issue. 
Ida, b. January 12, 1882. 
Jennie, b. September 5, 1884. 
Hazel, b. August 31, 1888. 
Fred, b. August 11, 1890. 
I Guy, b. December 16, 1892. 

4 Ida M., b. 1854; '• Stockholm, N. Y. ; m. James Munson in 
I 88 I. Had three children: 

Myrtle, b. June 24, 1883; m. Wesley Kingsley in 
1900. Had one child: 

Clarence, b. September 12, 1901. 
Harry, b. February 4, 1887. 
Ethel, b. January 19, 1899. 
^A^ alter, d. aged five months. 

RoUa M., b. June 23, 1859; 1- Nashua, N. H.; m. Eva L. 
Rhodes, November 2, 1881. Had three children: 

Calvin R., b. January 17, 1883, in Stockholm. 
Charles B., b. August 12, 1887, in Nashua. 
Harold, b. June 23, 1888; d. December 23, 1898. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 507 

Catharine, b. March 24, 1831; resides at Ft. Jackson, N. Y. ; m. 

Fred I. Hopkins, November 19, 1857. (See Hopkins record.) 
James, b. April 16, 1833; 1. Buckton, N. Y.; m. Eliza Varney; m. 

2d, Mary Schoolcraft, d. 1897. No issue. 
Charlotte N., b. November 25, 1835; d. September 30, 1837. 



MOSES KENT, Jr., b. October 25, 1780, Dorset, Vt.; d. May 10, 
1849, Hopkinton; m. Jerusha Manley, b. January 2, 1789, Dorset, Vt. ; d. 
January 3, 1850. He was the son of Moses, who was a son of Cephas, 
who moved from SuiEeld, Ct., to Dorset, Vt., in 1773, where he kept an 
inn. He was the first selectman of the place and on the Committee of Safety. 
The town of Dorset was organized in 1774. He was the first representative 
from Dorset in the state legislature in 1778. On the twenty-fifth day of 
September, 1776, fifty-one delegates representing thirty-five towns held a con- 
vention at his house for the formation of an independent state which was con- 
summated January 15, 1777. He died December 5, 1809, aged eighty-five 
years. His wife, Hannah Spencer, d. November 5, 1821, in her ninety- 
fifth year. She was the mother of ten children. Moses, Jr., grandson of 
Cephas, came to Hopkinton in the winter of 1823 with ox team, sled and 
family and stopped for a time in the village when he purchased the tract on 
north side of the " Sanford road " just west of the Orin Andrews place. 
Mr. Andrews's log house was on the east side of the brook and Mr. Kent's on 
the west side. His son, Darius E., held the farm for some years and. the 
father lived with him during his last years. Artemas, Asahel and Moses, Jr., 
were brothers, and cousins of the celebrated Chancellor James Kent. Had 
three children: 

Mary, b. 181 2, Dorset, Vt.; d. 1812. 

Darius E., b. February 22, 1813, Dorset; d. March 2, 1886, 
Westfield, N. Y.; m. Jane A. Greene, February 7, 1842; b. De- 
cember 15, 181 5; d. December 26, 1884. He held the home 
farm until February, 1857, when he purchased the Eggleston farm, 
four miles west of Potsdam village, where he remained till i860, 
when he bought the Dr. Richard Lawrence place on Elm Street in 
the village of Potsdam. In 1866 he removed to the Malory farm 
one mile from the village of Westfield, N. Y., and in 1869 to a 
residence on First Street in that village. He amassed a fortune for a 
man with his opportunities. Had two children: 

Salome Manley, b. October 10, 1844; 1. Westfield, N. Y. 
Emma Jane, b. March 31, 1849; d. May 30, 1868. 
Lucian H., b. August 4, 18 16, Dorset, Vt. ; d. March 9, 1900, 
Westfield; m. Mary Fay McEwen, June 9, 1849; b. February 20, 
1824; 1. Westfield. Very soon after his marriage he settled on the 
Henry B. Sanford farm, a half mile west of his father, on the south side 
of the road opposite the Seth Putnam place. In 1 857 he sold to Israel, 
son of Seth Putnam, and settled at French Creek, N. Y., where he 
remained till 1862, when he purchased the Overton farm near West- 
field, N. Y. His wife was a daughter of Deacon George McEwen 
of Lawrence and born at Hinesburg, Vt. Had seven children: 



5o8 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Elmore Manley, b. June 7, 1850, Hopkinton; 1. Westfield; 

m. Edna M. Chittenden, June 20, 1889; d. June 26, 1897. 

No issue. 
George Stanley, b. June 5, 1852, Hopkinton; 1. Westfield. 
Hermon Lucian, b. January 31, 1854, Hopkinton; 1. 

Westfield. 
Henry Brainard, b. October 21, 1855, Hopkinton; d. 

June 25, I 890. 
Klwin Ransom, b. November 11, 1858, French Creek, 

N. Y. ; d. November 14, 1890. 
Alice Carrie, b. May 18, 1862, Westfield, N. Y. 
Vernon Anson, b. January 17, 1866; 1. Westfield; m. 

Mattie Arnold, March 12, 1885. Had three children: 
Clara May, b. May i, 1887. 
Emma Belle, b. September 3, 1888. 
Marion Louise, b. January 16, 1895. 



HENRY McLaughlin, b. December 20, 1758, Lisbon, Ire.; d. 
Middleburg, Vt., February 7, 1813; m. Mary Dunton, b. November 9, 
1762, Williamstown, Mass.; d. Middleburg, Vt., February 14, 1813, 
Came from Bristol, Vt., in 1804, with his only son Thaddeus and purchased 
a large tract south of village Green. He opened a hotel very soon, at first 
on south end of village Green. 

/ 

THADDEUS LAUGHLIN, b. September 13, 1782, Dorset, Vt.; d. 
June 22, 1846; m. Hannah Kent, January 17, 1805; b. March 30, 1783, 
Dorset, Vt. ; d. March 18, 1832; m. 2d, Huldah Kent. His wives 
were sisters of Artemas, Asahel and Moses Kent. He came to town in 
1804 from Bristol, Vt., with his father, Henry McLaughlin. They at once 
built a log hotel and I am morally certain that it stood on the south side of 
the village Green. Mrs. Caroline A. Laughlin so told me and Mrs. Har- 
riet Sprague, daughter of Gideon Sprague, writes me that her father first lived 
in a log house on the Green. They soon built a log hotel on or near the 
site of the present Laughlin residence, which latter I feel sure was built in 
1 8 1 6, as Mr. Kent states in his diary that Mr. Laughlin then went to Vermont 
for materials for a house. A hotel was kept there for many years. The 
fi'ont west room was the barroom. He was the first postmaster, receiving 
his appointment in 1 808, and holding the office for over thirty-five years. Had 
six children by first and one by second marriage: 

Henry D., b. September 17, 1806; d. June 18, 1865, at Ogdens- 
burg; m. Harriet Sawyer, of Parishville, who died March 20, 1879. 
He was a physician in practice in Hopkinton till August, 1835, 
when he went to Ogdensburg. Had one child: 
James H., who died some years ago. 
Thaddeus H., b. April 20, 1808; d. June 20, 1878; m. Maria 
M. Hopkins of Panton, Vt., February, 1833; d. June 22, 1863; 
m. 2d, Caroline A. Sprague, May 10, 1865; d. November 29, 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 509 

1 90 1. The first wife was a daughter of Roswell D. Hopkins and 

the second a daughter of Dr. Gideon Sprague. Had one child by 

first marriage: 

Hannah M., b. September 2, 1837; d. January 5, 1857. 
Roswell H., b. December 13, 1809; d. December 24, 1893; a 

bachelor. 
Mary D., b. March 7, 181 5; d. October 20, 1892, at Fond du Lac, 

Wis. ; single. 
Hiram K., b. December 4, 18 18; d. April 8, 1896, at Fond du Lac, 

Wis.; m. Elizabeth J. Cary, October 12, 1858. Had one child, 

who is the sole survivor of the Laughlin family: 
Thaddeus "W., 1. Fond du Lac. 
Joseph, d. in infancy. 
Frances K., b. February 5, 1838; d. March 25, 1850. 

RUEL LAWRENCE, b. in Hardwick, Mass.; d. in Hopkinton; m. V 
Lucy , b. in Halifax, Vt. ; d. in Hopkinton. They came from Hali- 
fax, Vt., to town about the year 1827, and lived in a house which stood just 
north of the present residence of V. A. Chittenden, where both died. He 
was a blacksmith and wheelwright and worked at his trades for some years. 
Had seven children: 

Hart F., b. in Cornwall, Vt.; d. in Ogdensburg. Was principal of 
Ogdensburg Academy nine years, and a successful book merchant in 
that city for thirty years. 
Dr. Noah D., b. Cornwall; d. Omaha, Neb.; m. Maria Witherell 
of Parishville; d. Omaha. For account of him see physicians of 
Nicholville. Had two children: 

Frank E., who married Margaret, daughter of Elizabeth Cady 

Stanton. He died at Coronado Beach, Cal. 
Ella Maria, m. John J. Morrell of Omaha, where they reside. 
LfOrenzO J., b. Hopkinton; d. Brattleboro, Vt. ; m. Flora Danforth 
of Fort Covington. Had one child: 

Alice A., m. William Percy; 1. Plattsburg, N. Y. 
Lucy A., b. Hopkinton; 1. Ogdensburg; was preceptress in seminary 
at Bloomington, 111., Baraboo, Wis., academy at Prescott, and also 
Ogdensburg, N. Y. 
Henry L., b. Hopkinton; d. while attending medical college at Castle- 
ton, Vt. 
George A., b. Hopkinton; 1. Ogdensburg. Was with Barnes & 
Burr, publishers of New York City, for fifteen years, and still receives 
royalties on his books. 
Laura A., b. Hopkinton; m. Varick A. Chittenden. (See his family.) 



510 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

ASA MOON, b. November 17, 1772; d. October 15, 1842; m. Hannah 
Walker, b. May 9, 1774; d. February 26, i860. I do not learn when he 
first came to town or where he first Hved. He bought the Jonah Sanford, Jr., 
homestead of Charles Gibson and got a deed of it in I 8 19. He built a very 
small frame house, which is the north end of the present Sanford residence. 
The log house built by Mr. Gibson stood fifty feet or so northeast of the 
frame house. Mr. Moon sold the farm in 1841 to Jacob T. Gould, 
reserving the use of the log house till he got his new house built under the 
hill a few rods down the "north road." He was a very religious man, 
being one of the founders of the Baptist Church and its first deacon. Had 
eight children: 

Benjamin, b. July 30, 1797; d. February 28, 1799. 
Isabel, b. February 21, 1802; d. December 23, 1876, in Hopinton. 
Jesse, b. April 28, 1803; d. February 17, 1878; m. Sophia Baker, 
September 10, 1831. He and Natnaniel Baldwin, Jr., built a saw- 
mill back of the John C. Smith place on the Turnpike, where he lived 
for some years. The mill was practically a failure, owing to a lack 
of water. After this he lived for many years south of Parishville, 
where he died. Had eleven children: 

Hannah, b. April 16, 1832; 1. Bradford, N. H.; m. Jesse 
Burnham, June 7, 1851. Had two children: 
Bloomfield U., b. December 6, 1853. 
Ettie, b. August 11, 1855. 
Rhoda, b. September 3, 1833; d. single. 
Maryetta, b. May 13, 18^5; m. P. Johnson. Had two 
children: 

Henry, 1. Buffalo, N. Y. 
Frank, d. 
Priscilla, b. April 29, 1837; d. single. 
Zelia, b. February 20, 1840; d. young. 
Sophia, b. December 15, 1841; 1. Bradford, N.H.; m. Jack 

Ghastin. (Incomplete.) 
Amanda, b. October 29, 1842; 1. Bradford. 
Winfield, b. August 12, 1845; m. Delano. (Incom- 
plete. ) 
Asa, b. October 23, 1847; 1. Potsdam, N. Y. ; m. Lucinda 
Smith, October 18, 1877. Had two children: 
Truman J., b. July 6, 1880. 
Zelia. 
Lewis, b. December 6, 1840; d. a babe. 

Millard F.,b. November 25, 1851; m. Bryant. Had 

one child: 

Frank, 1. Hartford, Conn. 
Levinia, b. September 5, 1804; d. Kansas; m. John P. Roberts. 
All I learn of family is as follows: 

Martha J., d. in Wisconsin; m. Caleb Lane in Forestville, 
Iowa. Had two children: 

Cordelia, 1. in Kansas; m. Irving Johnson. Have 
family. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. yii 

Martin L., d. in 1865 at Forestville. 

Abigail, 1. Cleveland, Ohio; m. Henry Spooner. Had five 
children, first died in infancy: 

Myra, Eddie, Emma and Arthur. 
Myron, m. Marion Johnson; d. in Kansas. Family went to 

Washington. 
Klisha R., m. twice; 1. Mason City, Iowa. Had one child: 

Mildred, 1. Minnesota. 
Anna L., married and lives in Kansas. Has family. 
Orange B., b. December 20, 1805, Hinesburg, Vt.; d. 1895, La 
Porte City, Iowa; m. Margaret Wing, November 17, 183I; b. 
May zo, 1 813; d. 1900. They went to Kane County, 111., in 
1844; to Forestville, Iowa, in 1856, and to La Porte City, Iowa, in 
1876. On November 17, 1895, they celebrated the sixty-fourth 
anniversary of their marriage. Had twelve children: 
Zelia, b. 1832; d. young. 

George 'W., b. 1834; d. November 22, 1902; m. Adelia 
Wilber in 1868. Had three children, two died in infancy: 
Fred W., married and lives in Chicago. 
Walter, b. January 25, 1835; m. Mary C. Harris, Decem- 
ber 20, 1855; d. 1856; m. 2d, Sarah A. Gilbert. Had 
seven children, three died young; only three given: 

Mary, b. in Forestville; married and lives in Kansas. 
Kate, m. Dr. Maine; 1. Loup, Neb. 
Lillie, m. Edwin Anger; 1. Nebraska. 
Phebe, b. May i, 1836; m. John Nimmo. Had three 

children. (Incomplete.) 
Abigail, b. July 29, 1837; m. John Gilbert. Had eleven 
children, six died young. 

Myra, m. V. Krise; 1. in Oregon. 
Ellen, b. September 10, 1838; m. William H. Out- 
salt. Had two children: 

Henry H., married and lives in Montana. 
Ellen M., b. February 5, 1875; m. Fred G. 
Rupp; 1. Dixon, 111. 
Deloeme, b. September 15, 1839; 1. Waterloo, Iowa; m. 
James H. Stull in 1868. Had four children: 

Frank, married and lives in La Porte City. 
Arthur, married and lives in Waterloo. 
George and Charles, 1. Waterloo. 
Zelma L., d. in Illinois. 
Giles W., b. 1844; d. January, 1845. 
Lucy M., b. March 15, 1848; m. Mathia German; 1. 

Missouri. Had four children. 
Celia C, b. 1850; d. 1854. 

Effie 0., 1. La Porte City; m. Wist W. Cooper. Had three 
children : 

Ray, Bulah and Paul. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Hannah L., d. September II, 1899; 1. Neligh, Neb.; m. 
Peter J. Krise. Had two children: 
Mabel and Zelle. 
Abigail, b. February 14, 1809; m. S. Russell Witherell. (See his 

family. ) 

Rhoda S., b. November 1, i8iz; d. September 19, 1870; m. 

.Orange Wing, January, 1834; d. February 13, 1838; m. 2d, Jacob 

/ R. Norris, May 2, 1845; d. July 14, 1848. Had three children: 

'Charles M., b. October, 1834; d. November 19, 1879, 

Riverdale, Kan.; m. Susan M. Fairchild. Had three children: 

Alvan F. 

Harry B., 1. Howeville, Colo. 
Mary Annis, d. in 1879. 
Annis P., b. November 14, 1835; 1. Hopkinton;m. FuUom 
M. Corwin,June 15, 1858; b. October 16, 1834. Had 
two children: 

John A., b. August 18, 1862; 1. Hopkinton; m. 

Ettie L. Smith, January 21, 1899. Had one child: 

Annis O., b. October 14, 1901. 

Delia J., b. August 23, 1876; 1. Hopkinton; m. 

William F. Crowley, August 29, 1 895. Had two 

children: 

Marion, b. August 20, 1899. 
Bernice, b. July 6, 1902. 
Delia A., b. May 31, 1837; d. November 7, 1857. 
Henry G., b. June 15, 181 5; d. January 25, 1891, Ticonderoga, 
N. Y. ; m. Lydia Ann Jenkins, in 1837; b. April 4, 1823; d. 
December i, 1858, New York; m. 2d, Fanny Peterson at Ticon- 
deroga; d. February 13, I 89 1. Had three children: 

Lydia I., b. October 3, 1838; 1. Massillon, Ohio; m. Cal- 
vin J. Stratton, November 11, 1862; b. November 29, 
1837; d. February 4, 1886. Had three children: 

Freddie, b. July 15, 1864; d. August 27, 1864. 
Eva L., b. September 8, 1867; 1. Conneaut, Ohio; 
m. Archie E. Matson, May 27, 1886. Had three 
children: 

William E., b. December 7, 1887. 
Homer L,., b. March 20, 1891. 
Florence E., b. August 4, 1893; d. May 
7, 1895. 
Daughter, b. August 15, l 87 1 ; d. August 15, I 87 I . 
Daughter, b. June 4, 1840; d. June 4, 1840. 
Miner C, b. March 29, 1842; 1. Cleveland, Ohio; m. 
Clara I. Hatch, December 24, 1873. Had three children: 
Son, b. January 7, 1875; d. same day, Conneaut, 

Ohio. 
Lizzie Em, b. December 5, 1880, Cleveland, Ohio. 
Henry H., b. October 22, 1883; d. November 21, 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 513 

DYER L. MERRILL, b. June 10, 1809, Tunbridge, Vt. ; d. June 4, 
1891, Nicholville, N. Y.; m. Susan C. Lamson, May 8, 1837; b. No- 
vember II, 1818; d. November 19, 1893, Nicholville, N. Y. They came 
to Hopkinton about 1837. He was a large, powerful man, a good neighbor 
and highly respected citizen. Mrs. M. was also equally respected as a wife, 
mother and neighbor. I knew them well. (See sketch among pioneer set- 
tlers. ) Had seven children : 

James H., b. March 25, 1838; d. November 17, 1858. 
Samantha C, b. February 8, 1840; 1. Nicholville, N. Y. ; m. 
Sheldon P. Reynolds, April 2, 1863; d. December 28, 1892. No 
issue. 
Sarah M., b. August 21, 1842; 1. Minneapolis, Minn.; m. Mark R. 
Page, October 5, 1865. Had five children: 

DyerL., b. November 13, 1866; d. December 18, 1881. 
Ward W., b. April 2, 1868; d. December 28, 1881. 
Merton G., b. April 19, 1870. 

Emma S., b. August 23, 1871; d. August 17, 1872. 
Alice M., b. December 26, 1876. 
Silas W., b. February 8, 1845; 1. Nicholville, N. Y.; m. Carrie 
L. Day, October 11, 1870. Has been a successful merchant, 
supervisor of his town and is highly respected. Had three children: 
Grace L., b. October 29, 1874. 
Maude L., b. July 31, 1880. 
Bessie L., b. June 20, 1882. 
Thurza A., b. August 11, 1847; d. September 27, 1862. She was 
a most estimable young miss, rosy cheeked and vigorous. She and 
the writer of this book were nearly of the same age and each struggled 
hard to win the trivial prize for best spelling. When he occasionally 
would win it brought tears to her eyes. It was sad indeed to call her 
hence when so young and promising. 
George O., b. March 28, 1853; '• Lawrence, Mass.; m. Ella E. 

Day; d. December I, 1888. 
Emma S., b. November 10, 1859; d. September 28, 1862. 

REUBEN POST" (Lieutenant RoswelP, Lieutenant and Deacon Abra- 
ham*, Lieutenant and Deacon Abraham'', Lieutenant Abraham^, and Stephen', 
of Cambridge, Hartford and Saybrook, and Mehitable (Jones) Post),b. October 
25, 1759; d. August 2, 1815; m. Esther Harmon, b. 1759; '^- September 
14, 1839. The records in the War Department at Washington, D. C, show 
that Reuben Post was a member of Captain Isaac Clarke's company of Ver- 
mont militia from March 2, l 778, to May 2, I 778, when he was discharged; 
also that he was a first corporal in Captain Samuel Allen's company fi-om Octo- 
ber 13, 1780, to November 4, 1780, when he was discharged, and also that 
he served as sergeant in Captain George Sexton's company of Colonel Eben- 
ezer Walbridge's regiment, and further that he served fi'om September I to 
November 20, 1781. 

He came from Dorset in 1804, and his wife and family very soon after. 
He bought a strip of timber land with its southwest corner near where 



514 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Chittenden's store now stands and extending east on present road to Nichol- 
vilie one hundred and sixty rods, and in depth north about twenty rods, 
being known as No. 8 of Mechanic's lots. On this he built a log house 
and resided. He early took up one hundred acres directly back of the 
Eliphalet Brush farm. 

In 1 8o8 he purchased the present Truman E. Post farm from Joseph 
Armstrong, and with it a narrow strip off the west end of Mr. Hopkins's 
farm (adjoining Elisha Risdon's on the east), connecting the farm with the 
Potsdam road. The Turnpike road had not then been cut, Mr. Armstrong 
had previously built a log cabin on the north end of the strip next to the 
road. The ruins of the old fireplace and cellar may still be seen over the 
road fence in Mr. Hopkins's pasture. The Turnpike was cut out in 1809, 
and Mr. Post, wishing to have his home on the main part of the farm, very 
soon after built a small frame house, which, dressed over and enlarged, is still 
in use as the farm tenant house, and may be seen in the cut of Mr. Post's 
residence in the rear. His grandson, Truman E., is very confident that Mr. 
Post continued to live in his cabin in the village till he had his frame house 
built. Mr. Risdon married the daughter of Mr. Post in i 8 I i , and at once 
moved into the log house on the Potsdam road. 

Mrs. Post by letter from Dorset joined the First Congregational So- 
ciety of Hopkinton on its organization of nine members, September 6, 1808. 
At the first town meeting held March 4, 1806, Mr. Post was elected an as- 
sessor, and also one of three commissioners of highways. In 1 8 10 forty-five 
persons having subscribed J I I 5 for a library, he was elected one of eight 
trustees. In 1 8 1 5 he was one of the three trustees who built the stone 
schoolhouse. He was a mason by trade and assisted on the building. As it 
was nearing completion, a staging gave way and he with others fell to the 
ground. His skull was fractured by the fall from which he soon died. Had 
seven children. 

Hadassa, b. February 13, 1782; d. September 29, 1867; m. 

Samuel B. Abbott. (See his record.) 
Lynda, m. David Covey. (See his record.) 

Amanda, b. April 12, 1792; d. February 10, 1845; m. Elisha Ris- 
don. (See his record. ) 
Noah, b. 1795; d. 1872; m. Electa Pike. He lived and died at Fort 
Jackson. Had four children: 

Henry, William and David, all of whom are dead, unless 
it be William, who has not been heard from for years. The 
fourth, a son, was drowned at Fort Jackson. 
Lucy, b. October I, 1796; d. February 9, 1865; m. Ira Smith. 

(See his record.) 
Klias, b. September 31, 1798; d. December 25, 1885; m. Charlotte 
Merritt, April 18, 1824; b. July 3, 1799; d. March 14, 1883. 
He held the old home farm and was a prominent and successful citizen. 
He was appointed captain, August 20, 1823, in the 153rd Regi- 
ment, 49th Brigade, 12th Division, by Governor Yates. Had five 
children: 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 515 

Edwin M., b. December 20, 1824; d. November, 1859. 
Ellen B., b. September 2, 1826; d. March 22, 1901; m. 

George Smith. (See his family.) 
Amanda, b. November 3, 1829; d. December 11, 1899; 

single. 
Julia, b. February 7, 1832 (Mrs. Edwin Dove); 1. Hopkinton. 
Truman E., b. February 21, 1834; I. Hopkinton; m. 
Harriett French, b. February 24, 1838. He holds the old 
homestead. Had one child: 

Charlotte, b. May 31, 1861; 1. Hopkinton; m. 

DeForest Fearl, June 5, 1885. No issue. 

Reuben, b. October 10, 1800; d. August 12, 1883, at Gerry, 

N. Y. ; m. Julia Shepard; b. June 5, 1798; d. May 5, 1863. 

Lived on old homestead, then went to Norfolk, N. Y., and from 

there to Gerry, N. Y. Had four children, the oldest died in infancy: 

Cornelia, b. October 21, 1834 (Mrs. W. Basmore); d. 

March 18, 1863. 
Charles S., b. July 14, 1835; m. Adahne Atkins; 1. Sin- 

clairville, N. Y. 
Frances E., b. December 21, 1838 (Mrs. Orin Strong); 
1. Sinclairville, N. Y. 

NATHAN PECK, b. 1788, Middleburg, Vt.; d. March 7, 1836; m. 
Ruth Witherell, d. June 2, 1870. He came to Hopkinton about 18 — , and 
first settled on south side of Sanford road, opposite Seth Putnam's. He after- 
wards took a tract a mile or so south on what is still called the "Feck road." 
His widow married John Hoit of Parishville. Had five children: 

Eliza, b December 22, 181 2; d. March 29, 1873; *"• Russell 

Squire, April 7, 1830. (See Ashbel Squire.) 
Orlin, b. 1814; d. March 8, 1883; m. Caroline Smith in 1846; d. 
October 5, 1871. Had six children: 

Jennie, b. May 29, 1847; m. Horace Shomyo, April 22, 

1872; 1. Malone, N. Y. 
Ruth, b. May 15, 1849; '^- February 25, 1869. 
Addie, b. September 6, 1853; d. September 22, 1897; m. 
Charles Hodgkins of Fort Jackson. Had one child: 
Earl. 
Emorette, b. March l, 1858; m. Charles Stevens, Fort 
Jackson. Had two children: 

Grace, 1. Parishville, N. Y. ; m. J. Fred Hoyt. 
Blanche. 
Celestia, b. June 30, 1862; m. George Smith, December 19, 
1883; 1. Hopkinton. Had one child: 
Ethel. 
Nora, b. June 15, 1867; 1. Malone. 
Jane, b. 1817; d. 1836. 
Adaline, d. 1884. 

Thomas Davis. He was a soldier in the Civil War and was reported 
missing after a battle. Nothing further was ever heard of him. 



;i6 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

SETH PUTNAM, b. 1788, Middlesex, Vt.; d. September, 1864; m. 
Nancy Rockvvell, b. 1789, Cornwall, Vt.;d. June, 1872. Came to Hop- 
kinton about 1809 with his all in a pack on his back, and soon after took up 
the lot next west of the Moses Kent place, where he built a log house, since 
known as the Putnam farm. That locality was then a practically unbroken 
forest. He and Judge Sanford were fast friends and had many interesting dis- 
cussions on politics and religion. Both were then good Baptists. Had seven 
children: 

Cynthia, b. 1812 ; d. 1852 ; m. Hon. Parker W. Rose of Parish- 

ville in 1837. No issue. 
Lewis H., b. 181 5; d. July 29, 1840; single. 

Seth R., b. 1816; d. on way to California in 1849 and buried at sea; 
m. Jane M. Barber of Parishville. Had two children: 

Celia, d. in Michigan; m. Gilbert Smith of Parishville. 
Cynthia, d. in Michigan; m. Charles Howe. 
Mary P., b. May 2, i82i;d. August 25, 1846, at Antwerp, N. Y.; 

m. Rev. L. W. Nichols. 
Lucinda, b. 1823; d. October, i8gi; m. David M. Holden; m. 
zd, Sidney Briggs. Had two children by first and one by second 
marriage: 

William, b. 1848; 1. Michigan. 
Frances, b. 1850; d. 1875; m. Dr. O. C. Hutchins. 
Charles, d. aged twelve years. 
Amelia Ruth, b. November 10, 1828; 1. Metamora, Mich.; m. 
Horace Clark in 1856, of Dundee, C. E. Had one child: 
Nancy E., 1. Metamora; m. Bert Foote. 
Israel A., b. January 4, 1830; d. October 25, 1874, on visit at 
Ithaca, Mich.; m. R. Jane Corwin, January 5, 1853; b. November 
19, 1830; 1. Bangor, N. Y. They adopted Lucy Dewey and Sid- 
ney Blue, who became Lucy Putnam, now Mrs. Ashley Dudley of 
Metamora, Mich., and Lewis Putnam, who now resides in Hop- 
kinton. 



J JACOB PHELPS, b. July I 2, I 780, Pittsfield, Mass. ; d. April 2, i 864; 
m. Lucy Webster, May i, 1803; b. November II, 1784; d. February 10, 
I 88 I. Came to town June 14, I 82 I, and settled on the Jasper Armstrong 
farm next south of the farm known as the William S. Phelps place. He was 
about six feet in height and an upright, sterling citizen. Had seven children: 
Alanson W., b. March 5, 1804; d. October 9, 1868, Stockholm; 
m. Philanna Bachellor, March 7, 1827; b. April 2, 1808; d. No- 
vember 14, 1854; m. 2d, Mrs. Lydia Newbury; 1. Fort Jackson. 
One child by iirst and three by second marriage: 

Emily R., b. March 2, 1828; 1. Hopkinton; m. Carlos C. 

Chittenden. (See Chittenden record.) 
Warren W., b. August 2, 1858; 1. Winthrop, N. Y. ; m. 
Edith E. Chubb, July 10, 1879. Had one child: 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 517 

Eva A., b. October 13, 1880; m. Hugh Parr, Oc- 
tober 17, 1900. Had one child: 

Warren W., b. September 26, 1901; d. 
December 23, 1901. 
AlansonL., b. November 13, i860; 1. Avalon, Cal. ; m. 

Ella M. Meacham, September 18, 1881. No issue. 
Waldo H., b. October zo, 1862; d. March 9, 1901; m. 
Harriet A. Chubb, March 15, 1882. Had two children: 
Chloe E., b. September 14, 1884; 1. Stockholm. 
Alanson H., b. June 4, 1889. 
William S., b. January 26, 1806; d. February 15, 1882; m. Laura 
Palmer, b. March 30, 181 I, Lincoln, Vt. ; d. July 26, 1877; m. 
2d, Mrs. Martha Lyman, November 24, 1878; b. June 14, i8l6; 
d. May 27, 1899, Clinton, Mass. Had fifteen children: 

Cordelia A., b. January 14, 1831; d. March 20, 1865, 
"--Jayette, Wis.; m. Lorenzo D. Atwood, January i, 1850; 
d. February 19, 1882. Enlisted in Co. E, 43d Regiment, 
Wisconsin Volunteers; was justice twelve years, assessor nine, 
and deacon twenty years in Hopkinton in Congregational 
Church. Had two children: 

Leona L., b. April 20, 1851; d. March 20, 1865. 
Arthur A., b. May i, 1854; '• Hopkinton; m. 
Olivia M. Simmons, December 3, 1879; ^- ^°' 
vember 16, 1859. Had two children: 
Leon Roy, b. July 6, 1882. 
Warren Carroll, b. September 4, 1889. 
Carolina M., b. September 2, 1832; 1. Hartford, Conn.; 
m. Daniel B. Landon, January 6, 1852; b. March 20, 1832; 
d. April 23, 1879. He was a sergeant in Co. G, 106th 
Regiment, and wounded at Monnocacy, Md., July 9, 1864, 
and discharged in May, 1865. Had six children: 

Herbert H., b. March 29, 1853; 1. Norfolk; m. 
Lucy Pritchard in May, 188 I. Had two children: 
Florence M., b. February 17, 1898. 
Son, b. April, 1901 . 
Ella L., b. September 23, 1855; 1. Hartford, Conn.; 
m. Henry W. Johnson, April 20, i88o. Had one 
child: 

Florence M., b. October 12, 1883; m. 
Frederick F. Warren, October 15, 1902. 
Will P., b. September 5, 1858; 1. East Hartford, 

Conn.; m. Meda Cooper, June, 1882. No issue. 
Elizabeth L., b. April 10, 1862; 1. Buffalo, N. Y. 
Lucy S., b. January 18, 1871; 1. Newington Junc- 
tion, Conn.; m. William A. DriscoU, October I, 
1887. Had eight children: 

Marion L., b. September 2, 1888. 
Dorothy C, b. February 12, 1891. 
Arthur T., b. November 30, 1892. 



A 



518 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Henry J., b. March 25, 1894. 
Clinton E., b. February II, 1896. 
Esther M., b. June 22, 1897. 
Laura P., b. January 10, 1900. 

Elizabeth B., b. March 26, 1902. 
Raymond D., b. June 6, 1872; 1. E. Hartford, 
Conn.; m. Agnes H. Oldfield, February 6, 1 895. 
No issue. 
Pauline S., b. December 19, 1833; 1. Hopkinton; m. 

Lorenzo D. Atwood. (See CordeHa. ) 
Emeline E., b. September 29, 1835; d. July 11, 1894; m. 
Richard Gilmore, September 11, 1864; b. March 4, 1836; 
d. June 6, 1896. Enlisted in Co. — , — Regiment. Had 
five children: 

Leona, b. June 17, 1867; d. August 8, 1867. 
May L., b. July, 1868; 1. Underbill, Vt.; m. George 
H. Prior, April 30, 1892. Had one child: 
Ho'ward, b. September 4, 1897. 
Ida A., b. October 29, 187 1; 1. Hopkinton. 
King B., b. December 8, 1872. 
Sarah L., b. December 16, 1874; 1. Minneapolis. 
Sarah M., b. March 10, 1837; 1. Sacramento, Cal. ; m. 
James R. Moore, August 6, 1861; d. February 8, 1879. 
Enlisted in December, 1861, was sergeant in Co. G, 
13th Regiment, Conn. Volunteers, discharged in July, 1862, 
and died at Soldiers' Home in Dayton, Ohio. Had eight 
children: 

Daughter, b. November 28, 1864; d. December i, 

1864. 
William H., b. February 22, 1866; 1. St. Louis, 
Mo.; m. Mary Popham, October, 1887. Had six 
children : 

Kathie, b. March 6, 1889. 
Arthur, b. June, 1891. 
Laura, b. July, 1893. 
Harold, b. June, 1895. 
Edith, b. March, 1897. 
Irene, b. June, 1901; d. June, 1902. 
Laura P., b. January 23, 1868; 1. Maxwell, Cal.; 
m. James W. Marshall, December 18, 1895. Had 
one child: 

Dorothy Helen, b. November i, 1898. 
Jennie H., b. February 25, 1870; d. July 2;, 1899, 
Salina, Kan.; m. George F. Holliday, October, 
1899. No issue. 
Joseph P., b. February 12, 1872; 1. Sacramento, 
Cal.; m. Mary F. Lynch, July 3, 1901. Had one 
child: 

Gertrude Eloise, b. April 9, 1902. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 519 

James D., b. February 24, 1873; 1. Sacramento, 

Cal. 
Mary ^^., b. February 24, 1873; '^- November, 

1884. 
R. Victor, b. August 10, 1876; 1. Vina, Cal. 
William H., b. January 10, 1839; d. June 2, 1839. 
Jane L.., b. March 14, i840;d. September 2, 1840. 
William H., b. May 21, 1841; d. September i, 1841. 
Laura J., b. August 18, 1842; d. September 17, 1848. 
Lucy J., b. December 19, 1844; d. November 19, 1848. 
Myron A., b. January 3, 1847; d. August 31, 1848. 
Alice P., b. January 21, 1849; '^- April 26, 1850. 
Alvah A., b. April 25, 1851; d. June 10, 1856. 
Orville A., b. August 12, 1852; 1. Everett, Wash.; m. Ellen 
J. Hewett, January 26, 1873. Had three children: 
Guy A., b. November 17, 1874. 
Roy, b. February 14, 1881; d. May, 1883. 
Lossie Lutrelle, b. January 5, 1891; d. December 
26, 1895. 
Lillian L., b. March 17, 1856; 1. Minneapolis; m. Henry 
Ingham, November 20, 1879. Had four children: 
Laura Elizabeth, b. November 22, 1890. 
Margaret, b. January 29, 1893. 
Henry Phelps, b. September 14, 1895. 
Willie Bearden, b. October 28, 1897. 
Lucy ^A^., b. November 7, 1807; d. January 27, 1857, Stockholm; 
m. Benjamin F. Nay, December 31, 1828. Had eleven children: 
Salinda A., b. August 19, 1829; d. March 5, 1842. 
Jacob P., b. March 19, 1831; 1. Ovvasso, Mich.; m. Mary 

Riggs. (Incomplete.) 
Lucy W., b. March 9, 1833; d. October 25, 1839. 
Helen M., b. December 26, 1834; d. ; m. Leander Pritchard. 
Had four children: 

Mary, Betsey, 1. Norfolk, N. Y. ; m. Herbert Lan- 
don; Lydia and Rosa. 
Lucinda E., b. February 8, 1837; d. April 24, 1868; m. 
Lucius Kimpton. Had three children: 
Frances, Stella and Luna. 
William H., d. October 23, 1839. 

Lucy W., b. June 22, 1839; 1. Saginaw, Mich.; m. Nel- 
son Conrad. Had two children: 
Myrtle and a son. 
Betsy P., b. August i, 1840; d. May 20, 1885; single. 
Zelma P., b. June 2, 1843; 1. Saginaw, Mich.; m. 
Benjamin F., b. July 5, 1846; d. September 7, 1852. 
Willie P., 1. Perry, Mich. 
Orsamus, b. September 16, 1809; d. May 6, 18 10, Orville, Vt. 
Lucinda M., b. April 21, 181 1; d. November 18, 1844, Ogdens- 
burg. 



520 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Edwin O., b. April 23, 1813; d. April 26, 1894, Stockholm; m. 
Priscilla Dwinell, November 25, 1838; b. April 19, 1818; 1. Fort 
, Jackson. Had four children: 

Luman J. Phelps, b. May 28, 1840; 1. Faribault, Minn.; 
m. Augusta E. Lawrence, May 28, 1861. Had six 
children: 

Nina A., b. April 25, 1863; d. November, 1868. 
Leonard L., b. March 11, 1865; 1. Long Prairie, 

Minn.; m. Isabelle Cyrus, November 15, 1892. 
Mark A., b. November 29, 1869; d. April 21, 
1897, at W. Chazy, N. Y. ; m. Carrie Coyne, Janu- 
ary 28, 1893. Had three children: 

Vivian A., b. January 10, 1894. 
Leonard E., b. June 17, 1895. 
Lawrence M., b. June 10, 1897. 
Alice E., b. July 15, 1872; 1. Malone, N. Y.; m. 

Frederick Riley, April 17, 1895. 
Helen A., b. April 11, 1875. 
Orville P., b. September 29, 1878. 
Adelia P., b. February 12, 1842; d. August I I, 1900, Col- 
lege View, Neb.; m. John Grover, October 9, 1867. Had 
two children: 

Edwin P., b. November 14, 1868; d. May 15, 

1873. 
Clifton P., b. April 20, 1875; 1. New York City. 
Celia R., b. March 16, 1846; d. May 8, 1875; m. Charles 
G. Hastings, September i, 1864; 1. Manchester, N. H. 
No issue. 
Alice E.,b. August 23, 1851; I. Fort Jackson; m. Fayette N. 
Kellogg, March 28, 1878. Had two children: 
Pearle E., b. October 20, 1883. 
Gladys G., b. October 30, 1889. 
Polly, b. February 7, 181 5; d. October 11, l8l6, Orville, Vt. 



ELISHA RISDON, b. March 15, 1782, Dorset, Vt. ; d. October 19, 
1851; m. Amanda Post, August 4, 1 81 I; b. April 12, 1792; d. Febru- 
ary 10, 1845. He was the son of Onesimus and Sarah (Wheeler) Risdon, 
and the second of a family of thirteen children. His father was born Febru- 
ary 18, 1760, at , and he and his two brothers, John and Daniel, were 

soldiers in the War of the Revolution. The records in the adjutant general's 
office at Montpelier, Vt., show that Onesimus served as a private from July 
zl to December 3, 1777, in Captain John Warner's company in Lieutenant- 
Colonel Samuel Herrick's regiment of Rangers ; also from March 2 to May 
2, 1778, in Captain Isaac Clarke's company, raised by order of General de 
Lafayette ; also as a private from October 1 to November 24, 1778, in Captain 
Joseph Briggs's company; also as a private from October 12, 1780, for seven 
days in Captain John Starke's company in Colonel Ira Allen's regiment. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 521 

and also for five days in Captain Nathaniel Smith's company in the same regi- 
ment in October and November of the same year. He was at Ticonderoga 
with Schuyler and also in the battle of Bennington and in other skirmishes. 
He drew a pension for a while but lost it through the dishonesty of Vermont 
officials. (See diary, March 19, 1848.) 

Onesimus with his twelve children left Dorset, Vt., for the then west, 
settling at Richmond, Ontario County, N. Y., where he did a blacksmith 
business. His last child, Polly, was born there July 19* 1 801. All his 
children, or nearly all, married and settled at first in that locality. Robust as 
young men and women, somehow quite a number of them died in early life, 
as Mr. Risdon states in one of his letters. Elisha went back to Dorset in 
1801 to further attend school in the Dorset Academy, as we learn from his 
letters. 

Onesimus, becoming again unsettled, started west once more, settling in 
Sandusky, Ohio, where his wife died about i8zo, and is buried. He soon 
returned to his old home, spending the last twenty years of his life in the home 
of his daughter, Mrs. Charlotte Pratt, wife of George Pratt of Livonia Centre, 
N. Y., where he died March 1, 1848, and is buried. 

In preparing this work the only descendants of Onesimus of whom I 
have learned (aside from those of Elisha) are Charlotte M. Coy and Edwin 
R. Coy of Livonia Centre, N. Y.; Rev. S. W. Pratt and family of Camp- 
bell, N. Y., grandchildren of Charlotte Risdon Pratt, and Mr. Justus F. Coy 
of Independence, Iowa, grandson of Olive Risdon Reed, and Mrs. Frances 
(Risdon) Reed of Santa Barbara, Cal., and Charles Risdon of Los Angeles, 
children of Simus Risdon, who was a son of Onesimus, Jr., born January 6, 
1784, at Rupert, Vt. Simus died at Santa Barbara, November 30, 1899, at 
the great age of ninety-one years and seven months. 

Elisha left Rupert, Vt., January 31, 1804, for Hopkinton, being in- 
duced thereto by the profiler of large wages by a gentleman whose name he 
does not give. The settlement of the town was then not quite a year old, 
and there were then only a very few settlers here and there in the woods. 
He worked for and lived more or less in the home of Roswell Hopkins for 
three years. 

In 1805 he purchased the betterments in and to one hundred and fifteen 
acres on the south side of the Potsdam road, about a mile west of the village 
of Asahel Wright, a brother of Caleb. When not employed by Mr. Hop- 
kins or engaged in hunting, he worked at clearing this tract. In September, 
1807, he went to his father's at Richmond, N. Y., where he remained two 
years, returning late in the summer of i 809. In the fall after his return he 
made the hunting trip to Cookham of which he has given us a vivid and in- 
teresting account. 

Joseph Armstrong had prior to this bought the present Truman Post farm 
and a narrow strip of land of Mr. Hopkins lying along the east side of Mr. 
Risdon' s lot to enable him to get to the Potsdam road. A log cabin was 
built on this strip close to the road by Mr. Armstrong. Slight relics of the 
potato cellar and of the old stone fireplace and chimney may still be seen just 
over the fence in Mr. Hopkins's pasture. In 1808 Reuben Post purchased 
the farm and this strip and cabin of Mr. Armstrong. At this time he was 
living in a cabin on the Chittenden store corner. Truman E. Post tells me 



522 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

that his grandfather built the small frame house now dressed over and used by 
him as a tenant house in 1809 or 1810. Artemus Kent boarded with Mr. 
Post in summer of 1810 while clearing his farm across the road from Mr. 
Post's farm, and with Mr. Risdon in summer of 1812. It is pretty certain 
- that Mr. Post lived in the log house on the Chittenden store corner until he 
had his small frame house over on the Turnpike ready for occupancy, which 
is the understanding of his grandson, Truman E. 

Mr. Risdon married Amanda, the daughter of Reuben Post, in August, 
I 8 1 I , and moved into the cabin on the Potsdam road, where he lived till 
1825 and where his three children were born, when he purchased the better- 
ments of his brother-in-law, Samuel B. Abbott, in a tract on the south side of 
the Turnpike at the junction of the " Sanford road " with it, where he lived 
till his death in I 85 I. No one living, so far as I learn, can recall his living 
at any other place. A Mr. Rockwell had taken up this tract, as I learn from 
an old map, prior to Mr. Abbott and built a log house. Harriet Adsit, 
daughter of Mr. Abbott, born in 1822, so writes me. No one living can re- 
member this log cabin on the Turnpike or ever hearing of it. In a letter 
written by Mr. Risdon in 1831 to his father, he speaks of having recently 
built a small frame house, which confirms Mrs. Adsit' s recollection, and proves 
to a moral certainty that his first house on the Turnpike was a log one. 

Mr. Risdon, as I learn from many people who knew him and well re- 
member him, was a most worthy citizen and exemplary man. He was town 
clerk from 1813 to 1833 and town sealer for many years. He was natu- 
rally a reader and student and possessed a bright, discriminating mind. As a 
writer he was easy, clear, graceful and interesting, which his writings show 
even in these days of culture. The tribute paid by him to his wife on her 
death is a prose ode in gracefial diction, feeling and tenderness, and the letters 
to Eliphalet Brush can hardly be improved. But a small per cent of the col- 
lege men of to-day can surpass this man of the log cabin and forest in ease, 
grace and diction in composition. 

He early took up surveying as we learn from Mr. Hopkins's old account 
book, no doubt learning the rudiments of that art from Roswell Hopkins and 
his son Benjamin, who seemed to understand it more or less. A little later 
he became sub or local agent for William Short, the proprietor of the Short 
Tract and also for Mr. Lenox. His old arithmetic, now held and prized by 
his granddaughter, Mrs. Susan Capell, is a curiosity. It was written with 
a pen in 1803, just a hundred years ago. It has coarse paper covers with an 
example under each heading or subject, with very little explanation. The 
lad of to-day would be disgusted and throw it aside. The bounds of many 
of the farms of Hopkinton were run and established by him. 

He stood about six feet in height, rather slim of build, well proportioned, 
brown or darker hair, cleanly shaven, clear complexion, somewhat ruddy, 
quiet, modest and reserved. In figure, complexion, way and bearing his 
daughter Clarinda greatly resembled him. 

His health was poor for many years, and for the last eight or ten years 
of his life he was, most of the time, confined to his bed. 

The diary which he wrote and kept, it is plain to gather, was never in- 
tended for publication. Such a thought never entered his head. Had he had 
that in mind what a history and story of those early times would he have 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 523 

given us! However, as it is, he did, without intending it, give us many facts, 
dates of death and other events which are nowhere else told, and quite a pic- 
ture of the early days in Hopkinton, for which I am sure all are deeply 
grateful. Had three children: 

Elijah Harmon, b. October 3, 181 2; d. November 3, 1892, 
Webster City, Iowa; m. Mary Hall Sheals, February 18, 1835,' 
Malone, N. Y.; b. March 28, 181 5, Orwell, Vt.j d. November 
15, 1896, Webster City, Iowa. Had six children: 

Charlotte Amanda, b. January 26, 1838; d. March 5, 
1871; m. Varick A. Chittenden, February 16, i860. (See 
Clark S. Chittenden record.) 
Edna Mary, b. February 7, 1841 ; 1. Webster City, Iowa; ^ 
m. George W. Crosley, April 16, 1864; b. March 4, 1839, 
New Haven, Ohio. Mr. C. enlisted in spring of 1861 in 
Co. E, 3d Regiment Iowa Volunteers, mustered in as first 
sergeant, promoted to first lieutenant, June 26, I 86 1, and on 
March 8, 1863, commissioned major, which he held until June 
9, 1864, when he was honorably discharged. Subsequently 
he was commissioned major in Hancock's First Veteran Corps 
at Washington, D. C, and discharged May i i, 1865. His 
military history is identical with that of the famous Third Iowa. 
He was brevetted lieutenant colonel and colonel for conspicu- 
ous service. After the war he located at Webster City, where 
he has held many positions: postmaster, sheriff of Hamilton 
County, warden of the state penitentiary, member of Board of 
Education and of the city council, etc. He is a member of 
the Iowa Shiloh battlefield commission, now erecting a monu- 
ment on that historic field. Had four children: 

George Risdon, b. March 17, 1865, Hopkinton, 
N. Y.; 1. Fort Madison, Iowa; m. Cynthia Al- 
bright, February 12, 1896; b. May 3, 1865, Fort 
Madison, Iowa. Had one child: '^ 

Marion Albright, b. March 3, 1898. . 
Charles Carroll, b. March 11, 1868, Webster 

City, Iowa; d. January 8, 1878. 
Charlotte Elizabeth, b. June 19, 1871; 1. Web- 
ster City, Iowa. 
Varick Chittenden, b. November 11, 1875; '• 
Webster City, Iowa. 
Frances Eleanor Risdon, b. January 4, 1845; d. May 
4, 1896, Webster City, Iowa; m. Charles Wickware, Sep- 
tember 29, 1868; b. December 28, 1840, Colchester, 
Vt. ; d. May 4, 1893, Webster City, Iowa. Mr. W. en- 
listed March 28, 1862, in Co. I, 6th Regiment Vermont 
Volunteers, transferred by promotion to second lieutenant, 
Co. B, 43d U. S. Cavalry. At Savage Station, June 29, 
1862, he was shot through the body, the musket ball enter- 
ing his left side and coming out the right side below the ribs. 



524 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

He was left on the field for dead and made a prisoner, but 
subsequently exchanged. Recovering from his wound he 
rejoined his regiment, and on the 5th day of May, 1864, 
lost an arm in the battle of the Wilderness. At Philadelphia, 
December I, 1865, he was honorably discharged, thus com- 
pleting a record as a soldier second to none for bravery and 
efficiency in the discharge of duty. After the war he settled 
at Webster City, where he was highly esteemed, holding 
many positions of trust, — deputy collector internal revenue, 
deputy postmaster, auditor Hamilton County, eight years, 
mayor of the city, member of the Board of Education, also 
city council, charter member of Winfield Scott Post, etc. 
Had eight children: 

Mary Harmon, b. July 21, 1869; 1. Webster City, 

Iowa. 
Sarah Risdon, b. May 12, 1871; 1. Webster City, 

Iowa. 
Bessie Miranda, b. February 8, 1875; 1. Webster 
City, Iowa; m. Charles Maxwell Joy, February 18, 
1899; b. November 14, 1875, Geneva 111. 
Chloe Emma, b. February 24, 1877; 1. Webster 
City, Iowa; m. Nelson C. Joy, December 31, 1895; 
b. October 3, 1877, Batavia 111. Had three children: 
Catherine, b. August 17, 1896. 
Gail. b. April 15, 1898. 
Maxwell Leslie, b. October i, 1901. 
Elsie Lincoln, b. May 31, 1879. 
Harriett Bell, b. July 17, 1881; 1. Webster City, 
Iowa; m. Winfred Harold Douglass, June 19, 1901 ; 
b. June 12, 1879, Osage, Iowa. 
Kate Blaine, b. April 10, 1884. 
Milton Dana, b. November 3, 1888. 
Elisha Sheals Risdon, b. April i, 1847; d. January 8, 
1852. 

Sarah Clarinda, b. April 9, 1851; 1. Webster City, Iowa; 
m. Frank L. Currie, December 15, 1874; b. June i, 1851, 
Augusta, N. Y. Had four children: 

Mary Ethelyn, b. January 2, 1876; d. March 22, 

1877. 
Earl Risdon, b. March 26, 1878; 1. Boulder, 

Colo. 
Clare Harmon, b. May 15, 1882. 
Frank Shields, b. July 18, 1894. 
Harmon Herbert Risdon, b. November 4, 1853; 1. 
Milton, Wis.; m. Jessie Cole, April 5, 1877. Had five 
children: 

Charlotte Iza, b. March 10, 1878. 
Willie H., b. February 4, 1879; d. February 10, 
1879. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 



52; 



Herbert Cole, b. March 31, 1880. 
Frank C, b. February z, 1882. 
Darl C, b. January 2, 1884. 
Mary, b. October 7, 1815; d. May 4, 1875; m. Asahel H. Chitten- 
den, April 13, 1836. (See Solomon Chittenden record.) 
Clarinda, b. June 22, 1822; d. October 19, 1893; m. Jonah San- 
ford, Jr., February 17, 1847. (See Jonah Sanford record. ) 

THOMAS REMINGTON, b. 1767; d. May 1, 1819; m. Martha 
Shepard, b. 1766; d. 1849. He was an acquaintance of the Goodells and 
came to town in i 804. The story of his settlement is given in the list of 
pioneers. Had five children: 

Stillman C, b. March 3, 1800, Kingsbury, N. Y. ; d. August 23, 
1892; m. Rosalinda Holman, January, 1823; b. May lo, 1802; d. 
August 2, 1880. Had eleven children: 

Julius T., b. December 7, 1823; 1. Rockford, III. He was 
twice married and was a major in the Civil War. Lost two 
children in infancy and has two living: 
Helen and Rose. 
Jason, b. August 27, 1825; d. September 30, 1894, Hop- 

kinton; single. 
Edward, b. December 24, 1827; d. September, 1897, Hop- 

kinton; single. 
Emily A., b. May 2, 1829; single; 1. Ypsilanti, Mich. 
Jackson, b. July 27, 183 i; 1. New York City; m. Hannah 

Davis of Hopkinton; d. 1895. (Incomplete.) 
Achsa, b. July 2, 1833; d. February 26, 1870, in Hopkin- 
ton; m. Rufus Bastin. (Incomplete.) 
Marcia C, b. May 31, 1835; 1. Ypsilanti; m. Gilbert 

Brown. (Incomplete.) 
Stillman J., b. April 22, 1837; 1. Ypsilanti; m. Ellen 
Boyle, d. 1901. Had seven children, the last three died 
young: 

Blanche, William, May, Ralph, Freddie, 
Lee and Eddie. 
Two babes, b. in 1839 and l84i;d. in infancy. 
Clarinda, b. January 14, 1843; d. August 19, 1898; un- 
married. 
Sally, b. August 31, 1802; d. February 2, 1842; m. Orin Andrews, 
December 25, 1823; b. March 8, 1801; d. September 17, 1884, 
Cresco, Iowa. He was a son of Roswell and Isabelle (Greene) 
Andrews. Isabelle Greene was the eldest of Elder Henry Greene's 
children, and Abigail, wife of Judge Sanford, was the youngest. His 
grandfather was a Baptist minister and escaped the Wyoming massacre 
in Pennyslvania by fleeing with his family. Orin was born at Wal- 
lingford, Vt., where his parents died when he was four years of age. 
He came to Hopkinton about 1822 and settled on what is known as 



J 



526 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

the Captain Freeman farm. He m. zd, Nancy Peck Moody, Sep- 
tember 12, 1842; b. August 15, 1803, Cornwall, Vt. ; d. at Hop- 
kinton, November 19, 1857; m. 3d, Eliza Covey Menev, Septem- 
ber I, 1858; b. Cornwall, Vt., May 2, 1804; d. at Malone, N. Y. 
Had eight children by first marriage: 

Clarinda, b. January 20, 1825; m. George A. Harran, 
January I, 1847. Had six children (incomplete): 
Celia, d. single. 
Martha, d. single. 

Alma, m. D. Travis, January 3, 1875. Had two 
children: 

Morton, b. 1880; d. 1880. 
Daughter, b. 1884. (Incomplete.) 
Fannie, m. Harvey Pratt, June, 1882. (Incom- 
plete. ) 
Freeman, d. aged twenty-two. 
Orin, d. aged one year. 
Roswell, b. September 29, 1826; 1. Hopkinton; m. Marilla 
Cutler, March 7, 1855; b. November 24, 1732. Had 
three children (incomplete): 

Nettie, b. April 29, 1863. 
Augusta, b. July 29, 1868. 
Harlow, b. December 12, 1872. 
Martha Isabelle, b. April 29, 1828; 1. Fergus Falls, 
Minn.; m. Reuben H. Freeman, January 28, i8;z; b. 
May 7, 1819; d. February zo, 1901. He was born at 
Cape Cod and was a sea captain, as were his four brothers. 
His first wife was Rebecca Young, by whom he had three 
children, two dying in infancy; the third, Otis, m. Ducar 
Doane and d. on the Pacific Ocean, I 85 I. His zd wife was 
a school-teacher and missionary. They were m. in Mobile, 
Ala. Had two children: 

John H.,b. March 16, 1857; 1. Fergus Falls, Minn.; 
m. Jennie Kellev. Had three children: 
Ella S.,'b. 1891. 
Edmund, b. 1896. 
Fae Francis, b. 1900. 
Edmund, b. Marrh z, 1859; 'i- December 25, 1884. 
Mary S., b. March 21, 1830; d. April 21, 1 87 1, Nevada, 
Iowa; m. Alpheus B. Mitchell, December 11, 1851. Had 
one child: 

Parker W. R., b. November, 1852; d. April 19, 
1874. 
Sarah, b. May 10, 1832; m. Nehemiah Sheldon, May 29, 
1 861. Had three children (incomplete): 
Cordie, b. March 6, 1864. 
Milo, b. May II, 1866. 
Martha, b. August 20, 1868. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 527 

Henry Greene, b. June 28, 1836; 1. Ellsworth, Kan.; m. 
Susan Shock. Had five children (incomplete): 

Orin, Martha, Celia, Fanny and Alma. 
Josephine E., b. May 14, 1838; d. April 4, 1890, Ot- 
tumwa, Iowa; m. Santord L. Burnham, September 6, 1864; 
b. May 23, 1835. Mr. Burnham was born at St. Albans, 
Vt., and was the son of Philander and Electa (Beals) Burn- 
ham. Had two children: 

Sanford A., b. October 5, 1868; 1. Chicago, 111.; 
m. May Sarah Boulton, April 25, 1893; b. March 
29, 1870. Had three children: 

Sanford B., b. February 12, 1894; d. April 

22, 1899. 
Josephine May, b. July 13, 1899. 
Daughter, b. September 8, 1902. 
Frederick H., b. December 20, 1872; 1. Chicago, 
111. Messrs. Sanford A. and Frederick H. Burnham were 
born in Ottumwa, Iowa, and are wholesale manu- 
facturers of gloves at 24 Market Street, Chicago. 
Emeline, b. May 14, 1838; d. December 24, 1838. 
Aurelius, b. April 25, 1805; d. July 17, 1894, in West Stockholm; 
. m. Emily Greene of Cornwall, Vt., b. October 31, 1808; d. Sep- 
tember 3, 1883. He lived for years on the " Peck road." Had 
five children: 

Rosella, b. August 13, 1832; 1. West Stockholm; m. Wil- 
liam Clark, August 14, 1859. Had three children: 

Aurelius T., b. May 22, 1861; 1. West Stockholm; 
m. Edith Fletcher, December 24, I 888. Had one 
child: 

Son, b. September 22, 1902. 
Effie M.,b. April 9, 1864; 1. West Stockholm; m. 

Walter T. Ide, October 14, 1886. No issue. 
Lillie M., b. August 11, 1875; 1. West Stockholm; 
m. Ernest T. Greene, February 16, 1898. No 
issue. 
Melinda, b. February 4, 1837; d. April 22, 1893; m. Gil- 
man Foster, March 20, 1866; b. October 26, 1831; l.West 
Stockholm. Had five children: 

Orson R., b. January I, i867;d. January 23, 1876. 
Gilman D., b. October 7, 1868; d. January 24, 

1876. 

Emily S., b. August 16, 1871 ; d. January 23, 1876. 

Benjamin G.,b. June 19, 1876; 1. West Stockholm. 

Robert H., b. April 27, 1879; '^- October 1 8, 1896. 

Sarah, b. March 30, 1842; d.; m. Orson Pelsue, 1 868; 1. 

Stark, N. Y. Had one child: 

Frank, b. November 4, 1871; 1. Tupper Lake, N. Y. 
Babe, died in infancy. 
Aurelius, Jr., b. May 5, 1847; d. May 4, 1859. 



528 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

V Sophia, b. February 4, 1806; d. May 25, 1894; single. 
J Sylvia, b. January 14, 1810; d. January 28, 1890, at Crary's Mills, 
N. Y.; m. John Layer)' of Canton, N. Y., February 22, 1836; d. 
October 17, 1862. Had three children: 

Martha- A., b. April 2, 1837; m. John F. Peck, April 4, 
■^ 1869. She has taught school forty-six years, two ofwhich in 
St. Lawrence University and for the last twenty-nine in a pri- 
vate normal school at Ottumwa, Iowa. 
Julius T., b. July 26, 1839; d. February 20, 1888, Canton, 
N. Y. ; m. Lovisa M. Thomas, February 26, 1871; 1. Can- 
ton, N. Y. Had four children: 

Martha A., b. January 18, 1872; I. Canton, N. Y. ; 
m. Alpheus Baxter, December 29, 1897. Had two 
children: 

Ilia E., b. February 2, 1899. 
Addie L., b. August 30, 1901. 
Warren J., b. April 13, 1879; 1- Cavvker City, 

Kan. 
Francis J., b. May 20, 1884; 1. Canton, N. Y. 
Addie L., b. February 25, 1886. 
yRoswell C, b. May 7, 1844; 1. Crary's Mills, N. Y. ; m. 
Elvira D. Hamilton, December 4, 1876. Had three chil- 
dren: 

Sylvia H., b. October 12, 1881. 

Anna M., b. October 4, 1885; d. March 4, 1887. 

Alfred E., b. September 12, 1887; d. April 28, 



ELI ROBERTS, b. June 28, 1769, in Connecticut; d. March 7, 1837; 

m. Abiah Sanford, b. March 3, 1773, in Connecticut; d. September 19, 

1843. They were married at Hinesburg, Vt., April 6, 1797, and came 

from Vergennes to Hopkinton in February, 1807. He settled a mile south 

of the village and built a sawmill at once on Lyd Brook. His ancestors were 

French Huguenots and settled in Connecticut. The name was originally 

spelled " Roburds " and is so spelled in all early writings and papers. Some 

members of the family in Vergennes, Vt., still so spell it. Had seven children: 

Fanny, b. July 5, 1798, at Hinesburg; d. May 6, 1853; m. Joel 

Gould, April 15, 1814; b. September 28, 1789; d. December 26, 

1869, in Hopkinton, aged eighty. Had seven children, all born in 

Hopkinton: 

Juliette, b. January 14, 181 5;d. November 13, 1875, Mc- 

Henry, 111.; m. Dr. Orlando I. Howard, February 14, 1836; 

b. October 12, 1816; d. February 24, 1899, Elgin, 111. 

Started for Indiana, September 9, 1844. Had six children: 

Lodema A., b. December 20, 1836; 1. Waukegan, 

111. ; m. Samuel Thompson, November 26, 1857; d. 

' April 7, 186;, in Civil War; m. 2d, Curtis W. 

Harvey, June 9, 1870. Had three children by first 

and two by second marriage: 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 529 

Estelle J., b. May 14, 1859; m. Charles F. 
Tonics; 1. Round Lake, 111. Had seven 
.- children: 

Mary, Maud, Inez, Myrtle, 

Sara, Elsie and Mildred. 

Hartly O., b. September 20, i860; m. 

AdellTyrel], November 18, 1885; 1. 426 

West Randolph Street, Chicago. Had one 

child: 

Sarah Lodema. 
Arland H., b. April 3, 1864; m. Mary A. 
Quinn, July I, 1891; 1. 1533 Harvard Street, 
Chicago. Had two children: 
Arland and May. 
Inez M. Harvey, b. March 25, 1873; m. 
William R. White, June 19, 1 90 1; I. Boyl- 
ston Centre, Mass. 
Ortis A. Harvey, b. July 16, 1877; m. 
Bessie Cooper, January 24, 1900; I. Wauke- 
gan. 111. 
\Vyman O., b. March 10, 1840; d. December 16, 

1843. 
Rachel Jane, b. March 15, 1843; 1. 1724 Banks 
Avenue, West Superior, Wis.; m. Simon Kennedy, 
October 13, 1864. Had seven children: 

Julia A., b. February 6, 1865; 1. Chicago; 
m. John Wentvvorth, April 21, 1887. No 
issue. 
Charlotte, b. September 23, 1866; 1. Chi- 
cago; m. Robert Crawford, August 13, 1886. 
No issue. 
Harvey O., b. June 30, 1868; d. Novem- 
ber 24, 1874. 

Dwight H., b. June 12, 1871 ;m. Ida , 

d. October 10, I 90 1. No issue. 
Effiie R., b. August 27, 1873; single. 
Electa M., b. Decemlier z6, 1875; ^- May 

24, 1882. 
Harry A., b. June 2, iSgJ; d. May 10, 
1 90 1. 
Joel R., b. December 10, 1847; d. September 8, 

1850. 
Selora G., b. May 10, 1850;!. 702 Raymond Street, 
Elgin, III.; m. Charles C. Fink, December 8, 1865; 
d. March 7, 1 870; m. 2d, James S. Walsh, December 
26, 1871. Had one child by first and three by second 
marriage: 

Cora A., b. July 14, 1868; d. June 26, 1869. 
Louis A., b. August 7, 1872. 



530 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Edith L., b. December 8, 1878; m. Fred 

W. Buck, Waukegan, 111. 
Edward R.,b. April 23, 1888. 
Rollin A., b. February 10, 1853; 1. 226 Morgan 
Street, Elgin, 111.; m. Electa Waite, April 9, 1870. 
Had three children: 

Robert R., b. June 3, 1871; m. Carrie M. 
Mathews. Had one child: 

Lloyd, b. October 24, 1894. 
Lawrence, b. January 24, 1875; m. Florence 

Mathews at Elgin, 111. 
Harold, b. April 14, 1886. 
Mary A., b. August 17, 1818; d. October 20, 1826. 
Harriet J., b. March 4, 1821; 1. Hopkinton; m. Harvey 
Brown, January 10, 1843; b. October 4, 1821; d. October 
24, 1902. Had seven children: 

Ira J., b. March 5, 1844; m. Rhoda Dewey, No- 
vember 25, 1865; 1. Western, Minn. He enlisted 
in December, 1863, in the 7th New York Heavy 
Artillery and was taken prisoner before Petersburg, 
June 16, 1864, and confined in Andersonville and 
Millen prisons five months and eight days. Paroled 
November 24 at Savannah, Ga. Had five children: 
Eli W., m. May S. Gadward. Had two 
children: 

Donald L. and Ralph W. 
Mattie M., m. Elmer M. Johnson. Had 
five children: 

Ernest L., Eva, May, Ruth E. 
and Ethel L. 
Hattie M., m. Winfield S. Toombs. Had 
three children: 

Harold H., Grace R. and C. 
Richard. 
Harvey J., m. Gertrude C. Toombs. Had 
one child: 
King J. 
Jeanette R., m. Heman J. Berry. Had one 
child: 

S. Leonard. 
Eli W., b. May 14, 1846; d. July 19, 1864, An- 
dersonville. He enlisted in December, 1863, in the 
7th New York Heavy Artillery with his brother, Ira 
J., Rollin O. Sanford and Ashford Roberts, was 
taken prisoner before Petersburg, June 16, 1864, 
and died in Andersonville Prison. 
Christina, b. March 25, 1848, Nicholville; m. El- 
wood Ballard, November 23, i88i; d. No issue. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 531 

Elijah W., b. January 25, 1851, Bellows Falls, Vt.; 
m. Mrs. Georgie Ferguson, October 15, 1875. No 
issue. 
Edmond J., b. May 26, 1853; 1. Roberts, Minn.; 
m. Ada Blanchard, May 26, 1877. Had six cliil- 
dren: 

Charlotte H., Ira M., Max M., Guy 
L., Elwood E. and Orpha I. 
Lucien S., b. December 10, i860; 1. Hopkinton; 
m. Clara Lindsay, September 4, 1889. Had one 
child: 

Myrtle A. 
Fanny C, b. May 18, 1864; 1. Potsdam; m. Bert 
Cheney, January i, 1884. Had two children: 
Harriet M. and Leon E. 
Eli S., b. June 16, 1823; d. October 30, 1826. 
Fanny C, b. February 8, 1826; d. March ii, 1826. 
Adaline L., b. July 27, 1827; d. June 25, 1899, Fort Hill, ^ 
111. ;m. William Richardson, November I, 1859; ^- February 
I, 1821; 1. Fort Hill, 111. Had seven children: 

Orlando, b. May 23, i860; 1. Graye Lake, 111.; m. 
Cora Germett, May 22, 1890. Had two chidren: 
Villia Janet, b. August 22, 1891. 
Lionel Edmund, b. August i, 1894. 
Fanny M., b. March 25, 1862; 1. Fort Hill, 111.; 
m. Douglas Wait, December 13, 1883. Had five 
children : 

Amanda Eveline, b. May 18, 1885. 
Charles Ethan, b. May 4, 1887. 
Adaline Lucinda, b. September 14, 1888. 
Levi Leason, b. December 19, 1891. 
Georgiana A., b. September 21, 1895. 
Eveline L., b. September 27, 1863; m. Henry 
Horton, July 5, 1885. Had six children: 

Almena Serena, b. May 13, 1886; d. 

December 1 3, 1889. 
Irena, b. August 3, 1887. 
Clarence, b. March 10, 1889. 
Albert Orlando, b. September 30, 1892. 
Fanny Eska, b. June 23, 1894. 
Louretta M., b. March 9, 1902. 
Robert R., b. October 26, 1865; d. March 2, 

1892, at Fort Hill. 
Eli W., b. June 27, 1867; single; 1. Chicago. 
Jennie M., b. October 5, 1870; 1. Miilburn, 111.; 
m. Joseph Horton, March 25, 1890. Had four 
children: 



532 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Joseph E., b. November 30, I 89 1. 

Floyd W., b. November 7, 1892. 

Lottie Mae, b. July 16, 1894.; d. September 

16, 1894. 
Lome Ansel, b. September g, 1896. 
Willis B., b. March 2, 1 875; 1. Dixon, 111.; m. 
Eva M. Ringler, July 20, 1898. No issue. 
Daughter, b. and d. May 19, 1830. 
Joel M., b. March 17, 1839; d. September 10, 1853. 
Angeline, b. September 15, 1800, at Vergennes; d. June 10, 1828, 
in Hopkinton; m. Chester Tupper, March 4, i8z2; d. February 3, 
I 861, in California. No issue. 
Mariette, b. July 12, 1803, Vergennes; d. November 8, 1839, ^^ 
Granby, I N. Y. ; m. John Gould, May 3, 1826; b. August 25, 
1801 ; d. July z8, 1850, in Iowa. Had seven children: 

Babe son, b. February 10, 1827; d. February 11, 1827. 
Carlton D., b. August 3, 1828; d. August 19, 1839, at 

Granby, N. Y. 
Hellena D., b. February 28, 1830. Hellena and her sister 
Henriette were in the west fifty years or more ago. Hellena 
at least married. It was feared that they were killed by the 
Indians. 
Henriette S., b. November 14, 1831. 
Eli, b. May 23, 1836; d. June 24, 1836, in Oswego. 
- Ellen, b. January 21, 1839; d. February 26, 1839. 

Joel M., b. January 21, 1839; d. September 8, 1853, ^^ 
Hopkinton. 
John S., b. February 3, 1806, at Vergennes; d. December 19, 1865, 
in Hopkinton; m. Eveline D. Gibbs, March 9, 1831, at Norfolk, 
N. Y. Had six children: 

Hannah A., b. May 26, 1832; d. March 14, 1886; m. 
James H. Macomber, February i, 1853; b. August 18, 
1825; 1. Hopkinton. Had five children: 

Sanford E., b. December 10, 1853; d. February 

27, 1856. 
Leslie H., b. February I, 1857; d. 186 1. 
Ethelbert J., b. July 6, i860; d. April 25, 1862. 
May H., b. May l, 1863; 1. Hopkinton; m. Fred 
Sequare, April 6, 1890; b. March 20, 1862. Had 
four children: 

Floyd J., b. February 18, 189 1; d. January 

4, 1896. 
Ralph S., b. November 17, 1892. 
Harold T., b. October 24, 1894; d. January 

16, 1895. 
Almena M., b. June 25, 1896. 
Ernest J., b. March 25, 1865; 1. Hopkinton; m. 
Efl^a C. Serviss, August I, 1887; b. March 9, 1870. 
Had four children: 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 533 

Ella A., b. September 8, 1888. 
Hazel Pearl, b. May iz, 1890. 
Jenette Belle, b. September 3, 1892. 
Myrtle May, b. February zi, 1895. 
George Thurman, b. April Z5, 1834; d. March 17, 1902; 
m. Eleanor Starks, December 6, i860. He kept the old 
homestead to his death. It is now in charge of his son. 
Had four children: 

George L., b. May 10, 1863; d. January Z9, 1864. 

Clara E., b. January 11, 1865; 1. Wollaston, Mass.; 

m. Edwin E. Smith, December 15, 1886. No issue. 

Eli S., b. September 4, 1871; 1. Hopkinton; m. 

Viola M. Bruce, September 8, 1891 ;b. September 

IZ, 1870. Had three children: 

Cecil B., b. March 12, 1894. 

Claude H., b. June 6, 1896; d. December 

8, 1897. 
Dorothy G., b. December 13, 1899. 
Nettie M., b. April 23, 1875; 1. Sanford Corners; 
m. Ruthford Cooper. Had one child: 
Viola. 
Ashford N., b. December 10, 1836; 1. Hopkinton; m. Mary 
Clark, September 15, 1858; b. June zz, 1840, Hinesburg, 
Vt. He enlisted in the 7th New York Heavy Artillery and 
was severely wounded in the arm at the battle of Cold Har- 
bor, June 3, 1864. Had four children: 

Eveline D., b. March 3, 1861; 1. Hopkinton; m. 
Adelbert Smith, October Z9, 1879. (See Josiah 
Smith.) 
Edmond, b. April 11, 1862; single. 
Viola E., b. October 21, 1865; d. September 9, 
1892; m. Charles Peck, October 27, 1886. Had 
four children: 

Almena M., b. April 2, 1888. 
Roland R., b. August 16, 1889. 
Sherman C, b. August Z5, 1890. 
Harrison C, b. August 14, 1892. 
Almena E., b. April 22, 1872; m. Sherman Nich- 
ols, September 18, 1890. Had one child: 
Gerald A., b. March z, 1893. 
Ermina E., b. May 20, 1840; 1. Fort Jackson; m. Rollin 
O. Sanford, March 15, 1859; d. July 29, 1864, Anderson- 
ville Prison (see Sanford family); m. 2d, Russell Coohdge. 
Janette A., b. May 6, 1842; d. May 3, i86z. 
Ida E., b. December 29, 1854; 1. West Stockholm; m. 
Myron Clark, February 22, 1875; b. February 11, 1854; 
d. December 11, 1892. Had three children: 



534 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Leslie, b. April 28, 1878; d. May 18, 1879, '" 

Stockholm. 
Minnie E., b. August 8, 1880; d. August 31, 1880. 
Leo Myron, b. June 20, 1892. 
Clarissa, b. September 16, i8o8, in Hopkinton; d. February 4, 1866, 
/-' Medway, Mass.; m. Elnathan S. Winslow, January 24, 1828; b. 
February 23, 1802; d. September 22, 1898, Woonsocket, R. 1., 
aged ninety-six. Had seven children: 

Angeline A., b. August 1, 1830, in Pierrepont; d. August 1, 
1853, Potsdam; m. Samuel R. Leonard, January 14, 1849; 
b. January 29, 1828; d. April 22, 1877. Had two children: 
Adelbert W., b. November 16, 1849; d. Decem- 
ber 9, 1885; m. Lizzie Burkett, d. March 8, 1902. 
Had three children: 

Mabell, b. June 5, 1874; 1. Maiden, Mass.; 
m. Fred Nichols. Had four children: 

Charles, Dorothy, Mildred and 
Fred. 
Harry A., b. February 7, 1876; 1. Augusta, 
Me.; m. Emma E. Hordmann, December, 
1898; b. July 12, 1874. Had two chil- 
dren: 

Adelbert W., b. December 9, 1899. 
Franklin H., b. June 2, 1901. 
Ella A., b. July 13, 1882; d. May, 1898, 
Everett, Mass. 
Ella A., b. April 2, 1852; I. Cambridge, Mass.; m. 
Frank Delano Marsh, September 20, 1882. Had 
one child: 

Mildred. 
Alzina Ann, b. December 13, 1832; d. November 12, 
1 90 1, Medway, Mass.; m. Lucius Taylor, October 14, 
1853, in Pierrepont. Had two children: 

Leonard, b. i860; 1. Woonsocket, R. L 
Edgar, d. a babe. 
Ellen M., b. September 3, 1835; 1. East Vassalboro, Me.; 
m. George Edmund Fuller, September 3, 1850; d. Sep- 
tember 7, 1899. Had four children: 

George Elgon, b. April z, 1854; d. August 24, 
1901 ; m. Florence O. Hurd, November 26, 1875; 
1. Dorchester, Mass. Had five children: 

Florence B., b. December 22, 1876; 1. 

Dorchester, Mass. 
Oscar H., b. May 4, 1878; 1. Dorchester, 

Mass. 
May Belle E., b. October 5, 1880; 1. 
Dorchester, Mass. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 535 

Elgon, b. January 2, 1892; 1. Dorchester, 

Mass. 
Elwyn, b. January 2, 1902. 
Edmund W., b. November 28, 1857; 1. Brookline, 
Mass.; m. Lucretia West, December 8, 1886. Had 
three children: 

Raymond, b. September i ;, 1887. 
Leroy, b. November 28, 1889. 
Norman, b. March 7, 1892. 
Nellie A., b. November 7, 1861; 1. East Vassalboro, 
Me.; m. Frank A. Marden, June 10, 1885. Had 
two children: 

Tila Gertrude, b. May 9, 1886; d. Sep- 
tember I 5, I 897. 
Harold Chesterfield, b. July 28, 1890. 
Frank S., b. October 4, 1867; d. December, 8, 
1884. 
Edgar, b. October 16, 1838; d. November 3, 1838. 
Edwin, b. October 16, 1838; d. November 3, 1838. 
Francis H., b. July 8, 1846; d. November 15, 1846. 
Clara D., b. April 11, 1850, in Medway, Mass.; m. Ferd. 
C. Haywood; 1. Milford, Conn. Had two children: 

Carl B., b. April 6, 1874; single; 1. Milford, Conn. 

Edna R., b. June 2, 1875; m. Charles L. Stow, 

December 15, 1898; I. Milford, Conn. 

Hannah J., b. September 22, 181 I; d. March 4, 1863, in Grant, 

111.; m. William Curtis Howard, March 7, 1838, at Hopkinton; b. 

October 23, 18 I 7; 1. McHenry, 111. Started for Illinois, June 10, 

1844. Had six children: 

Eli Herbert C, b. March i, 1839, in Pierrepont; d. May 

23, 1842. 
Joseph Elverton, b. November 30, 1840; single; 1. Elgin, 

111. Was a soldier in Civil War. Insane from sunstroke. 
Auletus H., b. November 9, 1842, in Hopkinton; d. April 

I, 1844. 
Edson C., b. February 6, 1845; 1- Foxlake, III.; m. Emma 
Ribon, December 8, 1886; m. 2d. Had one child by iirst 
marriage : 

Myrtle, b. December 8, 1885. Adopted by Edwin 
Drury. 
Chester S., b. November 3, 1847; 1. McHenry, 111. 
Hannah A., b. December 25, 1849, Grant, 111.; m. Edwin 
Drury, April 19, 1871; b. November 12, 1842, Gages 
Lake, III.; 1. Wilmette, 111. Had three children: 

Fred Howard, b. February 23, 1873; d. February 
23, 1874. 



536 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Gertrude, b. March 20, 1875; d. December 13, 
1898; m. John J. Spear, October 21, 1896; b. Feb- 
ruary 18, I 87 I. Had one child: 

Mildred G., b. January 20, 1898. 
Myrtle Drury, daughter of Edson C. Howard, 
adopted. 
Eli B., b. August 21, 1816; d. December 13, 1891, in CaUfornia, 
aged seventy-five; m. Martha R. Hunter, November 11, 1840; b. 
June 4, 1822; d. October 30, 1 88 I, in San Francisco, Cal., aged 
fifty-nine. He went to Wauicegan, 111., many years ago. He 
started with an ox team and it is said took six months of time for the 
journey. Had three children: 

Angeline E., b. November 7, 1841; d. December 3, 1841. 
Rosalia Eugenia, b. July 31, 1843; d. San Francisco; m. 
Charles W. Kinsman. No issue: 
Martha (adopted). 
Almond C, b. October, 1848; d. November, 1849, Wau- 
kegan. 111. 

ERASTUS REEVE, b. 1779; d. May 20, 1839; m. Betsey Peck. 
Came to Hopkinton in the spring of I 821 from Vermont and lived for some 
time where the Baptist parsonage now stands in Fort Jackson. He was a car- 
penter and millwright by trade. He later held a farm near " Beechertown " 
in Stockholm, which is now held by his grandson Erastus. Had seven 
children: 

Sylvia, b. February 26, 1805; d. August 23, 1871, Milwaukee, 
Wis.; m. Milton H. Sherwood, February 24, 1824, Cornwall, 
Vt.; b. February 17, 1804; d. February 10, 1872. Had twelve 
children : 

Mary A., b. February 25, 182;; d.; m. David Hall, Feb- 
ruary 13, 1843. (Incomplete.) 
Daughter, b. April i;, 1826; d. April 26, 1826. 
Porter N., b. November 16, 1827; d. December 1, 1896; 
m. Sarah V. Pinney, April 7, 1852; 1. Glencoe, 111. (In- 
complete. ) 
Lenora B., b. August 12, 1829; m. James M. Piper, 

March I, 1848. (Incomplete.) 
Alphon C, b. September 16, 1 83 1; 1. Kenosha, Wis.; m. 

Lizzie C. Noyes, December 26, 1865. (Incomplete.) 
Oliver Ells, b. September 21, 1833; d. July 22, I 881; m. 

Julia Haughton, June 9, I 861. (Incomplete.) 
Elba Eugene, b. August 29, 1836; d. July 26, 1844. 
Erastus Wyman, b. August 9, 1838; m. Ellen Trues- 

dell, April 8, 1862. (Incomplete.) 
Elma Jane, b. April 14, 1841; d. January 17, 1895; m. 

Henry H. Pinney, February 22, 1879. (Incomplete.) 
Milton H., Jr., b. February 14, 1844; d. November 30, 
1853. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 537 

Charles Elwyn, b. June 26, 1848; m. Mary A. Watson, 

November 10, 1869. (Incomplete.) 

Enna G., b. November 10, 1850; d. December 9, 1895; 

m. William M. Rovve, December 15, 1870. (Incomplete.) 

Benjamin, b. September 2, 1807; d. Obtober 9, 1879, Hopkin- 

ton; m. Mary Eastman, b. February 20, 1808; d. April 21, 

1 88 1. Had three children: 

S. Milton, b. April 23, 1835; d. June 13, 1880; m. Har- 
riet J. Bisbee, September 23, 1857; b. May 9, 1837; d. 
March 30, 1899. Had two children: 

Helen May, b. July zo, 1858. (See Orman 

Bcecher.) 
Milo Ellsworth, b. May 24, 1867; 1. Toulon, 
111.; m. Nellie E. Hendrick, March 6, 1894. Had 
one child: 

Majol C, b. November 11, 1896. 
Helen R., b. October 3, 1838; d. May 12, i88i;m. 
Phelps S. Wells, March 31, 1857; b. October 23, 1829; 
1. Winthrop. Had two children: 

Carrie E., b. April 15, 1 861 ; 1. Fort Jackson; m. 

Varrick A. Cutler, March 11, 1880. No issue. 
Carroll, b. December i, 1874; 1. W. Stockholm; m. 
Grace Brown, September 19, 1 90 1. 
Erastus, b. June 13, 1843; 1. Winthrop, N. Y. ; m. Lois 
A. Nichols, May 8, 1865. Had two children: 

Rose E., b. December II, l86c; teacher East Orange, 

N. J. 
Mary A., b. August 15, 1869; 1. Lawrenceville, 
N. Y. ; m. Guy McEwen. Had three children: 
Harold, b. February 25, 1896. 
Donald, b. March 17, 1899; d. February 

25, 1900. 
Merrill, b. September 7, 1900. 
Champion J., b. May 22, l8io;d. September 4, 1896, Bristol, 
Wis.; m. Harriet W. Warriner, b. February 20, 1815; d. March 
7, 1856, Salem, Wis. Champion J. worked for Mr. Risdon and 
his first son was named after him. Mr. Risdon speaks of the babe in 
his diary. Had four children: 

Mary A., b. June 9, 1836; d. July 15, 1836. 
Elisha Risdon, b. August 18, 1838; 1. Albia, Iowa; m. 
Helen E. Newman, June 8, 1879; b- November 20, 1841, 
New Berlin, N. Y. Had one child: 

Grace Lulu, b. August 18, 1880; teacher. 
Leonora M., b. March 31, 1847; single; 1. Lincoln, Neb. 
Martha F., b. December 31, 1850; 1. Peoria, 111.; m. 
George A. Robinson. Had two children: 
Mary and Percy. 



538 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Stephen D., b, January, 1811, Montpelier; d. February, 1868, 
Salem, Wis.; m. Rosell Lunt, 1836, Montpelier; b. 1812; d. June, 
1883, Chicago. Had three children: 

Orlin O., b. December 20, 1840; 1. Marinette, Wis.; m. 
Lucinda C. Bundy, November 27, 1863. Had four children: 
Minnie Esther, b. April 7, 1866; m. Frank A. 
Sillman, February 22, 1888. Had four children: 
Harold Arthur, b. January 9, 1889. 
Gertrude B., b. March 4, 1890. 
Grant Dana, b. April z8, 1895. 
Marion Ester, b. February 27, 1897. 
Charles Sanford, b. April 11, 1869; m. Elizabeth 
A. Mclntyre, August 14, 1895. Had two children: 
Kenneth Sanford, b. February 14, 1900. 
Lois Elizabeth, b. February 14, 1902. 
Catherine R., b. October 9, 1874; m. John S. 
Cooley, October 20, 1898. Had two children: 
Doris Catherine, b. January 27, 1899. 
Grace Scribner, b. June 22, 1900. 
Claud O., b. January 9, 1877. 
Sanford D., b. January 17, 1844; '• '°3 Loomis Street, 
Chicago, III.; m. Catherine Cutler. Had four children: 
Lottie, Effie, Retta and Yolandus. 
Eugene A., b. November 30, 1848; 1. Marinette, Wis.; m. 
Bridget Hoolihan, 1872. Had three children: 
William Sheldon, b. July 14, 1879. 
Mary Louise, b. November 9, 1887. 
Thomas Raymond, b. May 25, 1889. 
Tapping, b. January 7, 1816; d November 14, 1878, Crete, Neb.; 
m. Anna Nay, b. July 22, 1814; d. November 15, 1881, Edgar, 
Neb. Had nine children: 

Winfield S., b. April l, 1839; 1. Howard, S. D.; m. 
Harriet Coles, b. February 7, 1843; d. 1877 at Riceville, 
Iowa; m. zd, Anna Thompson, b. July 23, 1851. Had 
three children by first and two by second marriage: 

Fred G., b. October 29, 1863; 1. Howard, S. D.; 
m. Mertie M. Phillips. Had one child: 
Clell Earl, b. October 13, 1885. 
Bert T., b. August 5, 1869; 1. Howard, S. D.; m. 
Susie Whiteley. Had one child: 
Evert, b. February 8, 1 896. 
Maud, b. June 26, 1876; 1. Madison, S. D. ; m. 
Marion Adkins. Had four children: 

Lucile, Leuella, Hattie and Mattie. 

John Earl, b. August 22, 1886; 1. Howard. 

Amy Zenia, b. August 3, 1888; 1. Howard. 

Luthera A., b. July 23, 1841; d. August 14, 1900; m. 

Charles H. Bundy; 1. Milford, Neb. Had two children: 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 539 

Edith, 1. Milford, Neb. ; m. Badgley. Had 

one daughter. 
Guy, 1. Milford; m. Had one child. 
Jane A., b. April 4, 1843; d. August 15, 1895, Milford, 
Neb.; m. Edward Healy; 1. Milford, Neb. Had three chil- 
dren: 

Edna Jane, b. 1865; d. October 31, 1878. 
.■ Charles A., b. February, 1877; d. March 28, 1878. 
Anna Belle, b. October 29, 1881; I. Waverly, 
Neb.; m. John Munn, February i, 1900. Had 
one child: 

Kathryn L,., b. March 9, 1901. 
William T., b. January 19, 1845; 1. Sioux City, Iowa; m. 
Laura I. Damron, February 29, 1872. Served in Civil War 
from June i, 1864, to March 14, 1866. Had one child: 
Zenia, b. June 26, 1873; 1. Sioux City. 
Loretta P., b. December 17, 1847; 1. Burlington, Iowa; 

m. David F. Sinclair. No issue. 
Laetitia A., b. March i, 1850; 1. Fairfield, Iowa; m. Rev. 
William V. Whitten, February 11, 1873. Had five children: 
Ethel Julia, b. January 16, 1877; d. March i z, 

1877. 
Ethel Julia, 2d, b. April 9, 1884; 1. Fairfield,, Iowa. 
Vesey Reeve, d. January 10, 1887. 
Laetitia Mae, b. March 29, 1888. 
Anna M. L., b. April 11, 1893. 
Zenia R., b. February 13, i8;z; d. September 23, 1873; 

m. Leander McCummings. No issue. 
Worth B., b. April, 19, 1854; I. Aurelia, Iowa; m. Clare 

Paddock. No issue. 

Edna H., b. July 18, 1856; d. October i, 1857, Hopkinton. 

Charles J. F., b. August 19, 1818, in Vermont; d. May 9, 1896, 

in Gravity, Iowa; ni. Irene A. Bastin, December 2z, I 841 ; b. July 18, 

1818, Lawrence, N. Y. ; d. March 12, 1896. Had three children: 

Daniel C, b. January 12, 1844; 1. Gravity, Iowa; m. Jane 

S. Fitchell; b. March 9, 1851, Ogdensburg; d. October 23, 

1888. Had five children: 

Charles E., b. October 17, 1868; single; 1. Horton, 

Wy. 
Agnes N., b. August 30, 1870; 1. Guss, Iowa; m. 
Walter Langer, October 5, 1899; ^- August ii, 
I 87 I. Had one child: 

Forest D., b. September iz, 1901. 
Frank Roy, b. April 18, 1872; d. February 19, 

1896. 
John J., b. October 25, 1874; single; 1. Horton, 

Wy. 
Milton H., b. February 2, 1877; single; 1. Gravity, 
Iowa. 



540 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Kllen I., b. August 26, 1846; m. Singleton B. Smith, June 

7, 1868; b. December 20, 1846. No issue. 
Jerome C, b. March 30, 1851, Stocicholm; 1. Gravity, 
Iowa; m. Celestia Barton, February 19, 1890; b. May 7, 
1868. Had one child: 

Herbert L., b. June 6, 1891. 
Sheldon P., b. 1821, Cornwall, Vt.; d. 1883, Kenosha, Wis.; m. 
Harriet M. Burditt, November i, 1849; b. 1824; 1. Englewood, 
111. She was a stepdaughter of Horace Train. They had three 
children: 

Etta, b. May 20, 1850, Cornwall, Vt. ; 1. Kenosha, Wis.; 
m. George Lugar, November i, 1874; b. 1851. Had one 
child: 

Ray, b. September 6, 1874. 
Ella, b. September 16, 1855, Salem, Wis.; 1. Slater, Mo.; 
m. Alsup B. Lane, July 16, 1874; d. March 18, 190Z. 
Had two children: 

Ethel, b. July 14, 1881. 
Dustin, b. 1895. 
Belle, b. i86l;l. Grand Island, Neb. ; m. A. L. Austin, 
April 3, 1890. No issue. 

ABRAHAM SHELDON, b. in Pawlet, Vt.; d. in 1810 in Vermont 
from the kick of a horse; m. Clarissa Armstrong, b. 1782, Pawlet, Vt. ; d. 
October 6, 1868. They first came to East Stockholm in 1800 or pos- 
sibly 1801. There is a faint story that they went there to cook for Eben- 
ezer Hulburd. Dr. Hough says they came to Hopkinton in March, 1803, 
with Roswell Hopkins, Eli and Ashbel Squire, and all with their families. 
He may have joined Mr. Hopkins and party as they came along or it may 
be that he went back to Vermont in the fall of 1 802 and came in with them 
from there. Mrs. Amanda Sheldon, widow of Deacon John, says that 
Mrs. Sheldon told her that " one if not two of her children were born in 
Stockholm." Her first child was Marilla. It has been impossible to learn 
the date of her birth with certainty. The " Sheldon record," gathered in 
about 1845, gives the year only and as i8oz, and that of Hiram as 1804. 
Had five children: 

/Marilla, b. 1802; d. September 26, 1878, Kalamazoo, Mich.; m. 
Rufus M. Grossman of Burlington, Vt. ; d. there in 1853. They 
were married February 23, 1825, in Hopkinton by Rev. Hiram S. 
Johnson. It is claimed that she was the first child born in the town 
of Stockholm. Had four children: 

Henry B., d. January 22, 1832, aged seven years. 
Cornelius M., d. December 17, 1830, aged two years. 
Newton Hopkins, born January 21, 1826; d. March 10, 
1890, Peru, Vt.; m. Harriett S. Danforth, October 27, 
i8;6; d. July 5, 1886. Had four children: 

R. Mason, b. September 16, 1857; d. August 7, 
1864. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 541 

Fred R., b. December 29, i860; 1. Peru, Vt.; m. 

Ina E. Turner. 
Charles N., b. February 14, 1865; 1. Manchester, 
Vt. ; m. Gertrude Taylor. Had two children: 
Hazel T. and Marion T. 
Edward H., b. November 29, 1866; 1. Peru, Vt. ; 
m. Sarah Tifft. Had two children: 
Homer D. and Ruth H. 
Marion M., b. July 25, 1830; 1. Kalamazoo, Mich.; m. 
J. H. Bostwick, December i, 1847; 1. Kalamazoo, Mich. 
Had seven children: 

Emma M., b. October 24, 1848; m. Mortimer 

Cahill; 1. Chicago. 
Marion A., b. May 17, 1850; m. H. M. Sidman; 

1. Chicago. 
Carlos G., b. April 17, 1852; m. Mary A. Perkey; 

1. Detroit, Mich. 
Frederick C, b. May 27, 1854. 
Henrietta S., b. September 10, 1855; m. Henry 

Deming; I. Chicago. 
William H., b. June 30, 1859; d. June 27, 1893. 
Matilda S., b. January 23, 1861; m. Frank J. 
Lewis, Kalamazoo, Mich. 
Hiram, b. in 1803 or 1804; d. April I 5, 1820. Dr. Hough states that 
he was the first child born in town and that he was born in December, 
1803. The "Sheldon record" gives the year as 1804. It is 
morally certain that he was the first male child born in Hopkinton, 
save possibly some Indian boy. 
John, b. February 7, 1806; d. January 6, 1882; m. Sally Chittenden, 
b. in 1805; d. April 16, 1847; m. 2d, Amanda Kelsey, b. October 
15, I 819; 1. old homestead. Had nine children by first marriage and 
one by second. 

Susan, b. 1830, d. October 27, 1850. 
Mary, b. 1831; d. October 14, 1850. 
Carrie, b. 1833; d. May 25, 1881. 
Son, died in infancy. 

Adelia, b. March 24, 1835; m. D. W. Chittenden; 1. Fay- 
ette, Iowa. 
Amelia, b. March 24, 1835; 1. Fayette, Iowa. 
Sarah, b. 1839; m. Edward Mathews. 
Ann, b. 18—. 

Eugenie, b. 1847; d. June 11, 1895. 
John L. (by second marriage), b. 1858; 1. Pittsburg, Pa. 
Julia, b. May 27, 1808; d. May 19 1880. (See Clark S. Chitten- 
den record. ) 
Hannah, b. June l, 1810; d. March 18, 1896; m. Jabez F. Fuller, 
June 17, 1841; b. May 14, I 8 14; 1. Sanford Corners, N. Y. Had 
fiDur children: 



54* EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Clark S., b. August lo, 1842; m. Ella Morse; 1. La Fay- 
ette, Ind. Enlisted in Co. A, 94th Regiment, and served 
through the war, was in thirteen battles, taken prisoner twice 
and served nine months in Andersonville Prison. Had four 
children: 

Clara B., b. February 7, 1869. 
Charles C, b. March 22, 1870. 
Orville M., b. April 12, 1872. 
Ella M., b. October 17, 1879; d. May 23, 1886. 
Charles W., b. April 27, 1844; 1. West Stockholm; m. 
Mary C. Baker, January 12, 1870; b. June 27, 1845. Had 
one child: 

Carrie A., b. November 30, i 875; 1. Le Ray, N. Y. ; 
m. Clinton Case. 
Mary N., b. July 2;, 1847; 1. Sanford Corners, N. Y. ; m. 
L. N. Herrick. Had three children: 
Lulu v., b. April 27, 1874. 
Everette, b. October 24, 1881. 
Roy, b. November 30, 1883. 
Adaline M., b. October 3', 1849; 1. Sanford Corners; m. 
Reuben A. Spohn, b. February 17, 1850. Had two 
children: 

Stanley, b. July 7, 1875; 1. Ilion, N. Y. ; m. Julia 

Allen* No issue. 
Will, b. August 24, 1877; '• Sanford Corners; m. 
, Agnes L. Jabas. Had two children: 

Bbnnylin E., b. June 1, 1898. 
" Leslie J., b. December 14, 1899. 

ELI SQUIRE. He was one of the very first settlers of the town, being 
a member of the first party to settle in March, 1803. He took the lot on 
the north side of the Potsdam road opposite that of Elisha Risdon. Zebina 
Coolidge tells me that Mr. Squire went into the smuggling business during 
the War of 181 2—14, and the war coming suddenly to an end practically 
ruined him. He exchanged his interest in the farm for the trip hammer shop 
which he sold afterwards at auction for $10. About all I learn as to his 
family and descendants I get from Mr. Coolidge. He tells me there were 
seven children: 

Levi, b. 1 804. There are several people who think he was the first 
child born in town. 

Asa, m. . He took up the lot on the south side of road, opposite 

Lee Eastman's residence, and later went up south of Parishville where 
he built a sawmill. The place was for years called Squire's mills. 
Had five children: 
Darwin. 

Royal B., d. in Minneapolis; m. . Had two children: 

C. D., b. 1863; 1. Minneapolis. 
Ray W., 1. Manila, P. J. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 543 

James, 1. W. Bangor, N. Y. ; m. . Had one child: 

Letty, 1. Canton, N. Y. 

Lucy, m. Lyman Oliver. Had two children, who died. 

Klzina. She married and has a daughter who is Mrs. George 
H. Swindells of Minneapolis. 
DanieL 

James, was a Baptist preacher. 
Orilla, m. Wilder Dorwin of Vermont. 
Lydia, m. Elder Grayton Brand. 
Harriet, m. a Mr. Chandler. 

ASHBEL SQUIRE, b. August 6, 1769, Addison, Vt.; d. March 18, 
1855; m. Polly Smith, b. March I 5, i 777, Addison, Vt. ; d. July 23, 1843. 
He came into town in March, 1803, prepared to settle and did settle. (See 
the story of the first settlers for full particulars.) Had seven children: 

Laura, b. January z8, 1796; d. February 6, 1833; m. Isaiah Cool- ^ 
idge, b. June 5, 1793; d. December 19, 1865. ^'^- Coolidge m. 
2d, Abigail Barrett, June 30, 1833; b. February 8, 1807; d. 
August 3, 1883. Mr. Coolidge built a hovel for Mr. Risdon's 
cattle, and helped him in his hunting. Was in War of 1 8 1 z, battle 
of Plattsburg. Had six children by first marriage: 

Zebina, b. January 17, 18 16; 1. Fort Jackson, N. Y. ; m. 
Eliza Johnson of New Hampshire. Mr. Coolidge is now 
past eighty-six, in good health and possesses a most remark- 
able memory. He has visited me several times at Potsdam 
during the preparation of this volume, and his assistance ap- 
pears in many places. Had one child: 
Laura J., d. 1898. 
Lucy, b. March 26, 1823; d. in childhood. 
Ira Smith, b. June 25, 1825; d. January 11, 1898; m. 
Emily White, March 6, 1862; b. May 8, 1839; 1. Fort 
Jackson. Had four children: 

Retta L., b. December 5, 1863, Lawrence, N. Y.; 
1. Lisbon, N. Y.; m. Fred E. Lawrence, March 17, 
1889; b. February 17, 1865. Had four children: 
Lydia E., b. January 4, 1890, Lisbon, N. Y. 
Lillie M., b. January 23, 1891, Potsdam. 
Jennie E., b. March 28, 1895, Lisbon. 
Maud E., b. January 26, 1897, Potsdam. 
Jessie E., b. January 17, 1868; 1. Dickinson Centre, 
N. Y. ; rn. Hubert Downey, November 25, 1 890; 
b. February 19, 1864. Had three children: 
Allen H., b. August 21, 1891. 
Ruth M., b. May 24, 1893. 
Francis E., b. May 28, 1898. 
Ira A., b. November 4, 1870, Monson, Ohio; 1. 
Fort Jackson. 



544 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Charles H., b. October 24, 1874; '• ^°'^^ Jackson; 
m. Gertrude M. Williams, December 31, 1895; b. 
July 6, 1878. Had one child: 

Daisy Belle, b. March 28, 1896. 
Russell, b. February 4, 1828; d. in childhood. 
Polly, b. August lo, 1830; d. October II, igoo; m. Henry 
Royce of North Lawrence. Had one child: 

Loretta M., d. September 23, 1889; m. F. A. 
Coolidge. 
Laurel, b. January 12, 1833; 1. Hopkinton; m. Roseltha 
White of Canton, b. December II, 1838. Had three 
children: 

Fred A., b. July iz, i86z; I. Peoria. 111.; m. 
Loretta M. Royce, November, 1884; d. September 
23, 1889; m. 2d, Mary Jasmer. No issue. 
Keren I., b. March 23, 1871; 1. Hopkinton. 
Ina M., b. May 26, 1878; 1. Hopkinton. 
Children of Isaiah Coolidge by second marriage: 

Laura K., b. May 8, 1834; 1. Kenosha, Wis.; m. Schuyler 

Stearns. 
Ellen, b. October 9, 1835; d. February 15, 1895. 
Russell L., b. May 6, 1837; 1. Fort Jackson; m. Laura E. 
Haywood, d. November, 1869; m. 2d, Mrs. Ermina E. 
(Roberts) Sanford. (See Sanford family.) No issue. 
Hannah A., b. March 5, 1839. 

Eliza A., b. July 3, 1841; 1. Stockbridge, Wis.; m. Charles 
W. Haywood, November 23, i86i;b. December 13, 1834. 
Had four children: 

Ada, b. December 4, 1864, Stockholm; d. March 12, 

1865. 
Hervie A., b. March ;, 1866, Eaton, Wis.; 1. 
Stockbridge; m. Dora R. Brooks, November 20, 
1895. Had three children: 

Harry E., Dale M. and Lois M. 
Alvin M., b. January 21, 1868, Stockbridge, Wis.; 
m. Gertrude Sanford, July 8, 1898. Had one child: 
Ralph A. 
Abbie H., b. January 10, 1878; d. August 19, 1885. 
Elzina M., b. June 12, 1845; d. January 24, 1898; m. 
Luke D. Adams, May 17, 1862; b. May 28, 1838; d. 
January 14, 1896. Had six children: 

Delbert F., b. March 13, 1868; m. Carrie A. 
Goodale, November 10, 1887. Had four children: 
Millard F., b. December 24, 1889. 
Gladys L., b. March 31, 1891. 
Glenn L., b. June 16, 1892. 
Fay A., b. August 6, 1894. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 



545 



Effie I., b. October 24, 1869; d. June 9, 1870. 
Lilies N., b. September 15, 1873; 1. Potsdam; m. 
Edward J. Strong, March 27, 1889. Had three 
children: 

Ethel B., b. March 23, 1890; d. December 

14, 1890. 
Bernice E., b. June 12, 1892; d. Decem- 
ber 4, I 892. 
Lloyd A., b. April 18, 1899; d. May 26, 
1899. 
Gary C, b. May 28, 1875; d. April 22, 1876. 
Vernie E., b. February 20, 1881; d. February 5, 

1883. 
Herrie M., b. May 7, 1884; d. March iz, 1885. 
Frances, b. October 30, 1847. 
Rachel, b. February 24, 1799; d. November 29, 1886, at Russell 
Squire's; m. Rev. John Simonds of Lawrence, February II, 1839. 
No issue. 
Chloe, b. September 11, 1800; d. September 23, 1869; single. 
Russell, b. February 14, 1802; d. March 2, 1888; m. Eliza Peck, 
April 7, 1830. Had eight children: 

Adelaide E., b. March 4, 1831; d. December zo, 1845. 
Ruth L., b. July 6, 1832; d. January z8, 1880; m. Charles 
Benedict, January 12, 1854; b. December 30, 1819; d. 
October 3, 1893. Had three children: 

Charles F., b. December 4, 1856; 1. Cornwall, 
Vt.; m. Agnes B. Taggart, September 13, 1882. 
Had four children: 

Ward T., Stuart L., Ruth J. and 
Arthur E. 
RoUin S., b. January 14, 1859; ^- March 5, 1897; 

single. 
Emma E., b. October 16, I 86 1; 1. Cornwall, Vt. ; 
m. Fred F. Dean, March 17, i886. No issue. 
Helen A., b. April 16, 1837; single; 1. Hopkinton. 
Jane R., b. November 13, 1838; m. Homan H. Sheldon, 
September 30, 1858; b. April 6, 1831; d. April 17, 1883. 
Had six children, only two living: 

Emily A., b. December 27, 1859; d. October 12, 

1863. 
E. Jennie, b. April 7, 1863; 1. Nicholville; m. Fred- 
erick L. Day, September 11, 1883. Had three 
children: 

Vera B., Vaughn C. and Donald S. 
Maud A., b. January 31, 1865; d. April 4, 1869. 
Florence E., b. May 31, 1868; d. September 25, 

1874. 
Rollin C, b. July 4, 1870; single; 1. Nicholville. 



,-46 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Ruth E., b. April 22, 1872; d. August 9, 1900; 
m. Frank W. Bibbins, August 25, 1896; 1. Nichol- 
ville. 
Emma V., b. May 24, 1840; 1. Oak Park, 111.; m. Rollin 
S. Williamson, September 4, 1859; ^- May 23, 1839; d. 
August 10, 1889; m. 2d, Dr. E. W. Wood. Mr. Wil- 
liamson was a judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County, 
111. No issue. 
Russell S., b. August 25, 1842; single; 1. Wisconsin. 
Jerome B., b. July 9, 1848; 1. Hopkinton; m. Martha A. 
Trussell, December i, 1880; b. June 26, 1857. Had two 
children: 

Sarah E., b. July 15, 1889. 
Frank T., b. September 19, 1892. 
Addie B., b. July 7, 1852; 1. Hopkinton; m. H. Greeley 
Fisk, February 24, 1 875; b. June 5, 1853. Had three 
children: 

Raldo A., b. December, 1876. 
Merl A., b. June 2, 1882. 
Myrtle F., b. August 29, 1883. 
Ira, b. March 6, 1804; d. March 28, 1883; a bachelor. Several de- 
scendants of Ashbel Squire claim that Ira was the first male child born 
in town. (See topic of first child.) 
Eben, b. October 2, 1806; d. August 28, 1882; m. Olive Witherell. 

No issue. 
Huldah, b. July 24, 1807; d. July 10, 1856; single. 

GAIUS SHELDON, b. May 20, 1781, Rupert, Vt. ; d. February 21, 
1863; m. Thankful Upham, January 5, 1803; b. 1783; d. February 9, 
1842; m. 2d, Anna S. Griggs, who went to Iowa, where she died. He 
came from Pomfort, Vt., in the fall of 1803 and settled on what is known 
as the Philo A. Davis farm, a mile north of George S. Wright's. Had six 
children: 

Amos Curtis, b. February 24, 1805; d. February 13, 1890; m. 
Polly Daggett of Stockholm, b. 1802; d. February 3, i860; m. 2d, 
Mrs. Mary Blanchard, July 6, i860; b. April 5, 18 19. Had five 
children bv first and one by second marriage: 

Homan, b. 1831; d. April 17, 1883; m. Jennie Squire; 1. 

Nicholville. 
Henry, 1. San Jos6, Cal. 

Elmina (Mrs. Charles Loucks), 1. Hermon, N. Y. 
Julia, b. 1839; ^- Septembers, 1858; m. Frank Davis of 

Fort Jackson. 
Harmon, b. 1842; d. August 22, 1863, in war. 
Bertie, b. September 18, 1864; drowned July 11, 1869. 
Alfred, b. April 21, 1807; d. July 3, 1874; "i- Arvilla Riggs, June 
16, 1832; b. May 17, 1809; d. December 9, 1877. Had six 
children: 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 547 

George W., b. May 22, 1833; m. Martha Merrill, July 7, 
1852; m. 2d, Emeline Huntley, July 9, 1854. Had five chil- 
dren: 

John, 1. Boston. 

Mary, 1. Wooster, Vt. ; m. Fred Sands; m. 2d, Frank 

Jones. 
Augusta, d. 

Silva, 1. Buckton, N. Y. ; m. Henry Holmes. Had 
one child: 
Ira. 
Mina (Mrs. Shonyo). 
Charlotte, b. March 9, 1835; d. February 11, 1880; m. 
John Y. Merrill, January 3, 1853. Had eight children: 

Mary, b. March 9, 1855; d. October 6, 1882; m. 
John Crowley, September 20, 1877. Had two 
children: 

George, b. March 16, 1879. 
Fred, b. July 5, 1880. 
Alfred, b. March 27, 1857; d. January 4, 1862. 
Abbie E., b. May 27, 1859; 1. Buckton, N. Y.; 
m. Elmer E. Holmes, March 24, 1880; b. April 
14, I 87 1. Had three children: 

Jessie M., b. March 14, 1882. 
Bertha M., b. July 28, 1884. 
Blanch D,, b. November 11, 1893. 
Matilda, b. April 3, 1861; 1. Bangor, N. Y.; m. 
Leslie Steenberge, February 22, 1884. Had one 
child: 

Earl, b. November 29, 1886. 
Julia M., b. October 6, 1863; d. September 21, 
1891; m. Azro M. Wilson, September 17, 1879. 
Had two children: 

Grace, b. July 12, 1880. 
Lottie, b. November 20, 1885. 
Delia E., b. December 11, 1865; d. September 23, 
1892; m. Earl Wendell, September 15, 1888. No 
issue. 
Grant U., b. January 9, 1867; 1. Colorado. 
Robert E., b. July 28, 1870; m. Sarah Corbin, 
May 15, 1892. Had two children: 

Beatrice H., b. November 19, 1894. 
Elmer G., b. September 15, 1896. 
Alfred, b. April 30, 1839; d. May i, 1839. 
Ozias, b. April 30, 1839; d. May 1, 1839. 
Esther, b. January 7, 1841; 1. Buckton, N. Y.; m. C. E. 
Reed, May 15, 1859; b. June 6, 1829; d. Had two 
children: 



548 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Florence A., b. October 30, 1862; 1. Fort Jackson; 
m. Jonah Knapp, August 12, 1880; b. February 14, 
1852. Had two children: 

Olon J., b. May 24, 1 88 1. 
Roy E., b. May 10, 1889. 
Mary L.., b. June i, 1870; 1. W. Stockholm; m. 
Will Dewey, November 27, 1886. Had four chil- 
dren: 

Earl, b. September 10, 1888. 
Ray, b. October 4, 1892. 
Mearl, b. January 2, 1894. 
Floyd, b. June 17, 1897. 
Julia, b. November 9, 1844; 1. Buckton; m. William Martin, 
July 4, 1861. Had one child: 

Alice, b. May 5, 1862; 1. Buckton; m. Loren Wol- 
cott, September 23, 1882. Had two children: 
Carrie, b. May 19, 1883. 
Earl W., b. November 29, 1887. 
Asa U., b. May 27, 1809; d. April I, 1875; m. AdalLne Cross, 
1832; d. 1835; m. 2d, Sarah D. Billings, December 2, 1835; b. 
1816; d. July 4, 1892. Had five children: 
Spencer, b. March 10, 1838. 

Sarah Adaline, b. August 23, 1839; 1. Potsdam; m. Rev. 
Franklin C. Millington, April 13, 1865; d. December 27, 
1887, Denver. Had two children: 

Francis W., b. May 17, 1866; 1. Wayland, N. Y.; 

m. Elizabeth E. Ersfeldt, December 27, 1900. 
Sarah W., b. June 4, 1872; d. March 24, 1898, 
in New York City; m. Samuel B. Davis, June 28, 
1892. Had one child: 

Cedric B., b. June 13, 1894. 
King A., b. April 21, 1845; 1. Fort Jackson; m. Cleora M. 
Hudson, April 21, 1866; d. February, 1880; m. 2d, Han- 
nah Cotter. Had one child by first and five by second 
marriage: 

Jay, Nellie C, d. aged ten; Ray, King, Anna- 
bel and Mary. 
Emma L., 1. Hopkinton; m. George Woodward, d. 1898. 
Had three children: 

George, Roy and Gail. 
Wright, b. February 6, 1855; 1. Hopkinton; m. Jennie E. 
Conlin, October 20, 1885; b. October 20, 1865; d. De- 
cember i 5, 1887; m. 2d, Martha Larone, October 23, 1888; 
b. August 14, 1864. Had five children: 

Babe, b. August 28, 1886; d. soon after. 
Son, b. January 25, 1890; d. soon after. 
Henry Asa, b. February 23, 1891. 
Ruth Alma, b. January 25, 1893. 
Burnard I., b. June 17, 1895. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 549 

Maria, b. November 12, l8ll; d. June 25, 1893, in Stockholm; m. / 

John- Riggs, July 17, 1853. No issue. 
Lucina, b. September I, 1814; d. May 10, 1852; m. John Riggs, 
May 18, 1835; d. November 21, 1884. Had four children: 

Adaline M., b. September 28, 1836; d. April 22, 1859; 

m. Barrel Adams, May I, 1 8 56; d. August I, 1897. Had ^ 
one child: 

Demis L., b. June 25, 1857; 1. Kendrick, Ida.; 
m. Johnson Poole, December 3, 1874; d. July 6, 
1896. Had four children: 

Alice E., b. August i, 1876; I. Chesley, 
Ida.; m. Fred B. Smoots, March 24, 1894. 
Had five children: 

Claude B., b. March 30, 1896. 
Gladys G., b. November 9, 1897. 
Jessie C, b. August 18, 1899. 
Ruby M., b. March i, 1901; d. 

March 25, 1 90 1. 
Ethel M., b. May 10, 1902. 
Milo R., b. April 5, 1879; ^- September 25, 

1900. 
Nellie M., b. February 6, 1881. 
Walter F., b. September 2, 1886. 
Louisa T., b. September 11, 1842; 1. West Stockholm; m. v 
Daniel R. Freeman, April 10, i860; m. 2d, Louis Besaw, 
November 12, 1896. Had two children : 

Charles E., b. July 12, 1861; 1. Breckinridge, 
Minn.; m. Tena Christenson, September 12, 1886. 
Had four children: 

Georgia D., b. December 8, 1887; d. March 

26, 1889. 
June, b. January 26, 1890. 
Marvel R., b. January 6, 1899. 
Lucina, b. February 17, 1900. 
Henry J., b. April 15, 1866; 1. Fond du Lac, Wis.; 
m. Lizzie Carberry, September 25, 1886. Had 
two children: 

Edward C, b. July 15, 1887. 
Harry, b. August 15, 1891. 
Philo, b. May 2 1, 1847; 1. Buckton; m. Loretta A. Palmer, 
March 31, 1868; b. August 20, 1848. Had three children: 
Burt F., b. September u, 1870; d. February 20, 
1899; m. Edith S. Castle, December 24, 1889. 
Had two children: 

Raymond E., b. March 14, 1894. 
Beulah B., b. January 4, 1897. 



S50 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Leslie E., b. February 6, 1 874; 1. Buckton; m. 
Etta May Preston, September 7, 1896. Had two 
children: 

Rupert v., b. September i, 1897. 
Ralph, b. April 16, 1900. 
Etta A., b. December 30, 1879; '• Buckton; m. Jo- 
seph A. Wells, February 6, I go I. No issue. 
Lucina, b. May 4, 1852; 1. West Stockholm; m. Horace A. 
Moulton, September 22, 1875. Had one child: 
Ernest A., b. December 18, 1879. 
Louisa L., b. May 31, 1818; d. October 5, 1842; m. Elijah Ober 
o!' Stockholm. No issue. 



OLIVER SHELDON, b. 1779, Rupert, Vt.; d. April 9, 1817; m. 
Sarah Gilbert, 1803; b. 1777; d. November 16, 1840. He was the eld- 
est of a family of nine children, and settled in town at least as early as July, 
1804, when his account with Mr. Hopkins opened. He sprained his ankle 
which resulted in the amputation of his leg. (See diaries of Messrs. Risdon 
and Kent for an account of same. ) He secured a large and fine tract on the 
south side of the road east of Hopkinton village. Gaius and Heman, who 
settled in Hopkinton, were his brothers. Had seven children: 

Alta, b. September 21, 1804, Hopkinton; d. August 23, 1890, 
Richmond Centre, Wis. (first female child born in town); m. John 
Henderson, January 21, 1834. (See his record.) 
Albert, b. January I, 1806; d. August 29, 1887; m. Rosamund 
Grandy, March 3, 1828; b. December 27, 1808; d. January 14, 
186;; m. 2d, Julia Russell, October 10, 1866; b. May 17, 1804; 
d. March 20, 1878. Had one child by first marriage: 

James A., b. February 18, 1830; dentist, Winthrop, N. Y. ; 
m. Clara E. Rice, b. March 7, 1828; d. August 23, 1870; 
m. 2d, Mary Crowley, b. September 6, 1845; d. Novem- 
ber 6, 1886; m. 3d, Anna L. Gray, b. February 23, 1865; 
d. August 28, 1892; m. 4th, Mary E. Northrup, b. July 
15, 1865. Had three children by first and two by second 
marriage: 

Ruth Rosamund, b. April 22, 1855; d. March 

20, 1858. 
William Augustus, b. January 11, 1858; d. Feb- 
ruary 2;, 1858. 
Helen M., b. October 24, i860. (See Clark A. 

Warner. ) 
Albert H., b. October 20, 1871; I. Buffalo, N. Y.; 
m. Veva V. Vale, September 18, 1893; b. Octo- 
ber 12, 1873. Had one child: 

Ralph v., b. March I, 1898. 
Emma R., b. April 8, 1873; 1. Buffalo, N. Y. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 551 

Philo G., b. September 4, 1807; d. June 12, 1897, at Winsted, 
Conn.; m. Matilda Westlake, August 18, '835; b. January i, 
1817; d. April 10, 1 892. No issue. 
Hiram B., b. May 7, 1809; d. June 24, 1884; m. Alzina Hamil- 
ton, March 23, 1836; b. September 13, 1812; d. April 3, 1837; 
m. 2d, Betsy Blanchard, b. April 14, 1819; d. September 8, 1885. 
Had five children by second marriage: 

Alzina, b. July 23, 1838; m. Charles E. Meacham. Had 
seven children: 

Janette A., b. October 24, 1858; 1. Winsted, Ct. 
Hattie M., b. April 5, i860; 1. Hopkinton. 
Emma E., b. November 28, 1862; m. Wilber G. 
Manchester; 1. Winsted. Had two children: 
Gladys and Mary. 
Charles O., b. November 8, 1864; m. Kittie Hen- 
derson; 1. Hopkinton. Had one child: 
Mildred. 
Daisy M., b. September 25, 1867; m. John E. 
Abercrombie, December 31, 1892, Winsted, Ct. 
No issue. 
Martha B., b. December 10, 1871; d. March 6, 

1872. 
Earl S., b. May 23, 1877; 1. Hopkinton. 
Elizabeth, b. October 17, 1 839; 1. Winsted, Conn.; m. 
Thomas Doughty, April 28, 1857. Had five children: 

John G., b. November 10, 1857; m. Eleanor 
Thomas, February 16, 1898. Had one child: 
Margaret, b. November 24, 1898. 
Carrie Matilda, b. July 31, i860. 
Alice Phebe, b. January 15, 1863; m. Joseph San- 
ford, August 2, 1 89 1. 
Sophia Ann, b. November I, 1865. 
Emily Elizabeth, b. February 16, 1869. 
Emily, b. November 18, 1841; 1. Winsted, Conn. 
Oliver J., b. July 28, 1844. Was a soldier, Co. I, lo6th 

Regiment, and died in Dansville Prison, January i, 1863. 
King T. Sheldon, b. December 20, 1846; 1. West Winsted, 
Conn.; m. Martha B. Smith. Had one child: 
Miles Hiram, b. September 10, 1884. 
Mary, b. August 5, 1811; d. August 4, 1838; m. Foster Shaw, Jan- 
uary 25, 1831; b. November 24, 1805; d. January 29, 1844. 
Had four children: 

Sally L., b. November 20, 1831; d. March 31, 1859; ™- / 
William A. Clark, d. May 18, 1 896. Had one child: 

Myron B., b. February II, 1854; d. December II, 
1892; m. Ida E. Roberts, February 22, 1875; b. De- 
cember 29, 1854. Had three children: 



552 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Leslie W., b. April 28, 1878; d. May 18, 

1879. 
Minnie E., b. August 8, 1880; d. August 

31, 1880. 
Leo N., b. June 20, 1892. 
John ^A^., b. March I, 1833; d. September 17, 1889, 
Aliens Falls, N. Y. ; m. Lucy A. Tichenor, b. December 5, 
I 83 I; 1. Aliens Falls, N. Y. Had four children: 

Estella J., b. March 16, 1859; d. April 18, 1861. 
Gilbert W., b. May 10, 1862; 1. Woodstock, Vt. ; 
m. Anna Wilcox, March 19, 1888; b. March 28, 
1858. No issue. 
Clara A., b. June 29, 1868; d. February 8, 1869. 
Rosa B., b. May 16, 1870; 1. Parishville. 
Philo G., b. April 15, 1834; d. December 26, i860. 
Oliver, b. March 17, 1838; d. December 12, 1838. 
James Oliver, b. 1814; d. 181 7. 
y^ Olive Jane; b. January 17, 1816; d. April 3, 1843; m. William H. 
Wakefield, b. April 5, 1810; d. April 15, 1890, Colton, N. Y. 
He m. 2d, Mary C. Blanchard, July 23, i843;b. August 22, 1820. 
Had one child by each marriage: 

Oliver J., b. February 21, 1843, Lawrenceville, N. Y. ; 1. 
Wahpeton, N. D. ; m. Maria E. Cline, November 6, 1870; 
b. August 31, 1847. Had one child: 

Herbert Wellington, b. November 7, 1880. 
Olive Jane, b. January 6, 1852; d. February 19, 1890; m. 
William N. James, September, 1868, Colton, N. Y. ; b. 
January 6, I 852. Had four children: 

William Oliver, Herbert, Theron and Mary. 

ELIAKIM SEELY, b. 1776; d. January 3, 1842; m. Almira , 

b. 1782; d. June 25, 1848. He settled on west side of road, just north of 
village, where Arthur Flanders now resides. He had a tannery on the back 
end of his lot on Lyd Brook. The first town meeting was held in his house 
in March, 1806. Had seven children: 

Susan, b. 1805; d. March 27, 1826. 

Alonzo, b. 1807; d. February 28, 1 841. 

Harriet, b. 1809; d. July 9, 181 1. 

Julia A., b. 1812; d. February 17, 1852; m. E. M. Roberts. 

Joseph, b. 1815; d. February 18, 1840. 

Almira H., b. 1818; d. August 10, 1858; m. D. M. Sylvester. 

Jane, m. Lockwood, Canton. 

DR. GIDEON SPRAGUE, b. January I, 178;, Salem, N.Y.; d. 
August 28, 1859; m. Maria Pier, January 5, 1812; b. February I, 1793, 
Salem, N. Y. ; d. September 23, 1826; m. zd, Laura Pier, December 13, 
1827; d. July 30, 1834; m. 3d, Rhoda Kent, February 9, 1835; d. (See 
sketch among pioneer settlers.) Had five children: 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 553 

Frederick P., b. September 11, l8l4;d. October 17, 1851, Terre 
Haute, Ind. ; ni. Naome H. Griswold at Benson, Vt., in 1846; d.; 
ni. 2d, Lydia Ganon. No child by either marriage. 
Dr. Henry W., b. April 14, 1817; d. August 9, 1847, Whitehall, 
N. Y. ; m. Laura E. Griswold at Benson, Vt., 1 841; b. July 12, 
1821; d. July 6, 1884. Had one child: 

William G., b. September i8, 1842; 1. Maiden, Mass.; m. 
Caroline H. Blaney, b. February 26, 1 846, Boston. No 
issue. 
Harriet W., b. July 2, 1819; 1. Minden, Neb.; m. Dr. Charles 
Azro L. Sprague, Benson, Vt., 1841. Had six children: 

Charles A., b. April 3, 1846; drowned at sea; m. Nettie 
Meaker. Had one child: 

Clyde R., b. November 25, 1878, Milton, Vt.; I 
Anamosa, Iowa; m. Avis P. Miller, August 19, 
1895; b. December 19, 1879. Had three children: 
Hattie Alma, b. April 21, 1897. 
Daniel Fayette, b. January 10, 1899. 
Floyd H., b. November 5, 1 90 1. 
Sophia H., b. April 10, 1849, Williston, Vt. ; d. July 1, 
1889; m. Wilber E. Chapin, August, 1872. Had three 
children : 

Edgar D., b. March 6, 1874, Red Oak, Ind.; d. 

February 6, 1 89 I. 
Mabel H., b. August 16, 1877; m. William H. 

Raymond; 1. Lincoln, Neb. 
Wilber E., b. January 12, 1880, at Seward, Neb. 
Frederic, b. April i, 1 8 5 1 ; drowned June, 1868, near Wil- 
liston. 
Harriet W., b. June 23, 1853; 1. Minden, Neb.; m. N. C. 
Rogers, October 19, 1876, at Seward, Neb. Had four chil- 
dren: 

Fayette F., b. July 10, 1878, at Seward. 
Calvin S., b. June 24, 1881, Aurora. 
Virginia N., b. February 5, 1890, Minden. 
Richard H., b. November 18, 1896, Minden. 
Calvin G., b. April 17, 1857, Williston, Vt.; 1. Hopkinton, 
N. Y.; m. Mary A. Hall, b. March 7, 1859, New Haven, 
Vt. No issue. 
Carolina M., b. November 6, 1859; 1. Minden, Neb.; m. 
John L. McPheely, October 29, 1879, Seward, Neb., law- 
yer. Had two children: 

Kathryn M., b. November 6, 1880, at Seward, 

Neb. 
Anna, b. August 23, 1882; d. June 12, 1886. 



554 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Dr. Fayette P., b. January I, 1822; d. Onalaska, Wis., May 8, 
1876; m. Sarah A. Brown at Hopkinton, daughter of Philander. He 
practised as a physician at Hopkinton till his removal west in 1866. 
Had one child: 

Oretta M., d. about 1870. 

Caroline Abigail, b. December 2, 1824; d. November 29, 1901; 
m. Thaddeus H. Laughlin, May 10, 1865. No issue. 



SAMUEL M. SIMONDS, b. April 4, 1782, Andover, Mass.; d. 
October 25, 1866; m. Anna Langworthy, b. October 3, 1780, Andover, 
Mass.; d. February 19, 1870. He came from Windsor, Vt., and setded 
in Hopkinton some time between I 808 and I 8 10. His name does not appear 
in the censas of 1807 nor in Mr. Hopkins's account down to 1808, but it 
does in the census of I 8 14. At the time the Bridsh soldiers made the raid 
upon the village of Hopkinton and captured some three hundred barrels of 
flour they also forcibly took from Mr. Simonds all his stock of leather on hand 
and manufactured boots. He kept a sort of commissary store and shoe shop 
which stood just a little east of the present Chittenden store, as is shown by an 
early map elsewhere given in this work. About the year 1821 he purchased 
a tract of land over in Chesterfield on the north side of the Turnpike about 
midway between the schoolhouse and the Ellithorpe corner. There he lived 
several years, selling out to Gilbert Trussell and taking a farm about a mile 
north from the Ellithorpe place on the west side of the road. He and his 
son, Solon C, got title to this place September 12, 1850. There he lived 
till the end. Had eight children: 

George A., b. September 17, 1802, Windsor, Vt. ; d. November 
23, 1892; m. Eleanor Hall, 1828; b. Fairfax, Vt. ; m. 2d, Ellinor 
Briggs, January 2, i860; b. February 2, 1830; 1. W. Stockholm. 
His daughter, Clarissa A. Poor, tells me that some soldiers were 
quartered where the church and town house now stand for a dme, and 
that her father was put into service as waiter and chore boy for the 
commanding officers. I do not learn any corroboration of soldiers be- 
ing quartered in town, though they may have been, since we know 
they passed through more or less. When only fourteen he was sent 
by his father to Plattsburg through the fifty-mile woods for flour, 
meal, sole leather, hams, etc. On one occasion he was followed by 
wolves in the early evening, and to hold them at bay kept shooting at 
them and now and then throwing out a ham for them to eat, till he 
reached a settler. After his marriage he lived in Madrid, Potsdam, 
Canton and Stockholm, where he died. Had four children: 

Louisa, b. October 25, 1829; d. Waddington, N. Y.; m. 
Malvin Fulton. Had three children, but unable to learn of 
only one: 

Frank, 1. Morley, N. Y. 
Clarissa A., b. October 9, 1832; 1. N. Stockholm; m. 
George E. Poor, 1852. Had seven children: 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 555 

Maitland G., b. November 9, 1853; d. December 
24, 1881, Streator, 111.; m. Ada Warner. Had one 
child: 

Arthur, d. in infancy. 
Ella M., b. November 24, 1855; 1. Melrose, Mass.; 
m. James Russell, August 21, 1880; d. 1881; m. 
2d, Elmer Shields, October 21, 1884. Had two chil- 
dren: 

Blanch C, b. July i, 1881; d. December 

30, 1894. 
Hazel D., b. January 4, 1892. 
Lyman A., b. February 14, 1857; d. September l8, 

I 890, Burns, Kan. 
James L., b. August I, 1863; d. November 25, 

1878. 
Arthur E., b. April 7, 1866; 1. Chicopee Falls, 
Mass.; m. Ella Swain; d. March 8, I 890, Concord, 
N. H.; m. 2d, Fannie Ridgeway of England. No 
issue. 
Carrie L., b. January 13, 1868; d. December 25, 
1900, K Station, N. Y. ; m. Isaac Wadsworth. 
Had one child: 

Ray G., b. July 2, 1898. 
Hannah E., b. January 6, 1870; I. K Station, N. Y. ; 
m. Harry Peet. Hadtwo children: 
Fay C, b. August 7, 1900. 
Eva A., b. June 14, 1902. 
Eleanor H., b. 1833; d. July 4, 1868. 
Hester A., b. November 25, 1835; d. November 30, 1835. 
Louisa A., b. July 2, 1806; d. February 18, 1879; m. Henry A. 
Erwin, 1838. Had four children: 

Ellen M., b. March 24, 1840; d. January 9, I 90 1, Nichol- 
ville; m. Byron G. Reed, November i, 1867; b. November 
20, 1839. Had one child: 

Charles B., b. February 21, 1872; 1. Nicholville; 
m. Mabel C. Chandler, September 28, 1897. No 
issue. I 

Laura L., b. February 4, 1842; d. March 10, 1892; m. C. A 
L. Newell, October 4, 1865; b. December 23, 182 1; d. 
November 30, 1900. Had five children: 

Vernon C, b. November 20, 1870; 1. Nicholville; 
m. Nellie A. Mahony, February 1 1, 1893; b. January 
II, 1872. Had one child: 

Laura C, b. April 14, 1898. 
Varick C, b. October 4, 1875; d. November 22, 

1881. 
Elmer E., b. February I, 1879; d. November 13, 



556 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Everett E., b. December 14, 1882. 
Wright M., b. October 16, 1884; d. February 10, 
1 90 1 . 
Lucia, b. February 4, 1842; 1. Norwood, N. Y. ; m. Oel 
B. Austin. Had four children: 

Gertie L., b. October 15, 1866. 

Evelyn L., b. August 11, 1872; I. Daily Ridge, 

N. Y.; m. John G. Pringle. No issue. 
Ervin N., b. September II, 1881. 
Clark H., b. March 25, 1844; 1. Nicholville; m. Jane E. 
Walcott; lived on old homestead, two miles north of Nichol- 
ville. Had one child: 

Ernest G., b. December 6, 1 876; 1. Nicholville; 

; m. Clara L. Bibbins, December g, 1899. No issue. 

James, b. August 9, 1809; d. May li, 1837, in Lawrence; m. 

No issue. 
Sullivan, b. February 12, 181 2; d. October 9, 1891, at Sebec, Me.; 
m. Almira Stacey, January I, 1833; b. July 6, 181Z; d. January 4, 
1897. Had five children: 

Henry C, b. October 15, 1833, in Lawrence; d. December 
15, 1863; m. Julia A. Brackett, December 25, 1854; d. ; 
m. 2d, L. Averill. Was a soldier and died in Baltimore, 
Md. Had one child: 

Daughter, b. i860; m. and lives near Boston, Mass. 
Laura A., b. May 6, 183;; 1. East Dover, Me.; m. Daniel 
Severance, September 5, 1864, at Barre, Vt. Was a soldier 
in the Civil War. Had three children: 

Delbert A., b. March 25, 1866, at Sebec; 1. Bangor, 
Me.; m. Emma G. Curtis, October 3, 1886. Had 
two children: 

Ola M., b. April 3, 1891; d. January 17, 

1893. 
Leon E., b. October 21, 1893. 
Chester L., b. January 15, 1868; 1. East Dover, 

Me.; m. Mrs. Clara Bearse, August 12, 1902. 
Almira E., b. October 7, 1873; d. July 15, 1896; 
m. Wendell Hubbard, April 15, 1893. Had two 
children: 

Daniel A., b. January 7, 1894. 
Henry C, b. July 7, 1896. 
Laurinda A., b. April 29, 1839; d. October 3!, 1884, in 

Boston; m. J. B. Lyon, October 28, 1865. No issue. 
Aaron A., b. May 19, 1843; 1. Somerville, Mass.; m. Nellie 
Brasy, February 12, 1864. Had three children: 
Frank, Leon and Bertie. 
Lucia M., b. May 29, 1847, Potsdam;!. N. Guilford, Me.; 
m. Walter D. Rogers, September 22, 1866, Monson, Me. 
Had seven children, one of whom d. in infancy: 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 557 

Arthur D., b. January 28, 1869; 1. Shirley, Me.; 
m. Mary HufF, June 28, 1898. Had one child: 
Lewis G., b. October 31, 1900. 
Elmer S., b. November 5, 1871;!. N. Guilford, Me. ; 
m. Edith V. Frost, July 3, 1901. Had one child: 
Doris Vera, b. August 31, 1902. 
George H., b. October 23, 1874; 1- Abbott, Me. 
Justin N., b. March 20, 1878. 
Forest G., b. May 13, 1880. 
Lawrence W., b. March 28, 1888. 
Solon Cyrus, b. March 14, 18 15, Hopiiinton; d. May 11, 1881, 
New York City; in. Martha Ann Rawson, 1842; b. 1824; d. August 
26, 1902, T. I. Park. In 1851 he went to Brasher Falls and in 1859 
to Watertown, N. Y. Had three children: 

Albert, b. 1844, Lawrence; d. aged twenty. 
Maria Temperance, b. April 2, 1848; 1. New York City; 
m. Hiram McGonegal, December 24, 1873. Had four 
children: 

Daisy Augusta, b. January 23, 1875. 
Alfred R., b. April 7, 1876; 1. Washington, D. C; 
m. Margaret L. Welch, September 2, 1901. Had 
one child: 

Alfred R., Jr., b. September 13, 1902. 
Lillian M., b. May 27, 1884, Plainfield, N. J. 
Walter H., b. January 4, i88g, Hudson, N. Y. 
Martin L., b. August 11, 1852; d. May 30, 1896, Water- 
town, N. Y.; m. Addie May Huntley, August 25, 1881; 1. 
Watertown. Had four children: 

Grace Mae, b. August 14, 1884. 
Lillian H., b. October 17, 1887. 
George S., b. October 17, 1889; d. July 31, 1890. 
Lorenzo M., b. April 15, 1891; d. September 2, 
1891. 
Laura B., b. September 27, 18 16; d. March i, 1872, at Nichol- 
ville; m. Clark Brownell, September 16, 1838; d. Lawrence, N. Y. 
They went to Palmyra, N. Y., then to Sullivan, Wis., and back to 
Nicholville, where they died. Had seven children: 

Charles C, b. November 22, 1840; d. March 23, 1841. 
George C, b. July 18, 1.842; 1. Palmyra, Wis.; m. Olive 
Lee, October 22, 1864. Had six children, three of whom 
are living: 

M. Ella, b. September 20, 1867; 1. Palmyra. 
Ira G., b. March 2;, 1876; 1. Palmyra. 
Dr. Frank W., b. January I, 1 879; 1. Excelsior 
Springs, Mo.; m. Effie HuUen. No issue. 
Pamelia M., b. April 9, 1844; 1- Nicholville, N. Y.; m. 

George B. Stacy. (See his family.) 
Louisa A., b. August 23, 1846; 1. Nicholville; m. Hiram 
Rose. No issue. 



5 58 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Laura A., b. September 3, 1848; 1. Nicholville; m. Philo 
A. Munson, March 31, 1866. Had two children: 

Minnie A., b. February 23, 1869; 1. Boston, Mass. 
George C, b. December 4, 1871; 1. Nicholville; m. 
Pearl Weston. Had one child: 
Majorie, b. June 30, 1899. 
Rhoda A., b. October 6, 1850, Sullivan; d. September 3, 

1852. 
Mary J., b. September 6, 1853; d. February 28, 1854. 
Lucia, b. December 5, 1818; d. July 22, 1843; m. James Sherar, 
merchant at Nicholville. Had one child: 
Pembroke, d. young. 
Joseph M., b. December 2, 1820; d. April 17, 1900; m. Lucy E. 
Carpenter, b. December 7, 1822, at Jay, N. Y. He was a car- 
penter and highly respected. In 1866 he purchased the Chapman 
place on the south side at Nicholville, used in early times as a hotel, 
where he died. On December 2, 1897, the fiftieth anniversary of 
their marriage was duly celebrated. Had four children: 
Albert, d. when a child. 

Emma, b. April 9, 1854; 1. Malone, N. Y. ; m. Isaac 
Palmer, March 27, 1879; b. May 26, 1850; d. April 7, 
1896. Had three children: 

Eva Lola, b. May 24, 1886, in Dickinson. 
Charles Porter, b. January 29, 1891, Malone. 
Albert L., b. January 29, 1 89 1; d. October 29, 
1891. 
Eva, b. April 9, 1854; '• Dickinson, N. Y. ; m. Wellington 
Roys, September 19, 1882; b. September 9, 1852. Had 
four children: 

Christie L., b. September 10, 1883. 
Gussie, b. September 1, 1887. 
Roscoe, b. October 23, 1893. 
Beatrice M., b. January 29, 1896. 
Mary B., b. July 5, 1857; 1. Dickinson Centre, N. Y. ; m. 
Frank McComber, December 14, I 88 1; b. March 10, 1858. 
Had five children: 

Frank E., b. May ig, 1886; d. February 24, 1887. 
Pearl, b. May 19, 1886. 
Thaddeus J., b. February 27, 1888. 
George, b. December 11, 1892. 
Floyd, b. May 15, 1894. 

I 
si JONAH SANFORD' (Benjamin'', Jonah', Joseph\ SamueP and Esther 

(Baldwin), Ephraim" and Mary (Powell), Thomas' and Sarah Sanford), b. 

December 31, 1790, Cornwall, Vt.;d. December 25, 1867; m. Abigail 

Greene, March 14, 181 l; b. January 20, 1793; d. December 15, 1842; 

m. 2d, Harriet E. Barney, September 2z, 1 845; b. December z, l8lz; d. 

February 9, 1898. His first wife was a daughter of Rev. Henry Greene 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 



559 



of Cornwall, Vt., but later of Parishville. She was a very gentle, dutiful 

and noble woman. The second wife was a daughter of Barney of 

Bellville, N. Y., and a talented woman possessing a remarkable memory. She 
could read a page of poetry, hand the book to another and repeat it, as also 
poems and essays which she had committed, for hours and even days with- 
out cessation. His grandfather, Jonah, was in the War of the Revolution, 
being a member of Captain Jesse Curtis' s company in Colonel Hooker's 
regiment of Erastus Wolcott's brigade stationed at Barracks No. 3, Peekskill. 
Also commissioned an ensign. (See page 500 of Connecticut records. War of 
Revolution. ) 

Thomas, the pioneer of the family in this country, came to Boston in 
1631, only eleven years after the Pilgrim Fathers, and settled at Milford, 
Conn., where he died in i68i.' He was a descendant of Thomas de 
Sanford, who went over from Normandy to England with William the Con- 
queror in 1066, and was an officer in the battle of Hastings. 

Mr. Sanford was a son of Benjamin Sanford and Sarah Marsh of Corn- 
wall, Vt., both natives of the town of Litchfield, Conn., where his grand- 
father, Jonah, also resided and died. Benjamin was born June 4, 1761, and 
moved up to Cornwall in 1785, where he died July i, 1833; his wife, Feb- 
ruary z8, 1818, aged iifty-two. 

His children were, viz., Orman, died March 3, 1790 ; Daniel, who 
has several descendants in and about Middlebury, Vt. ; Permelia, who mar- 
ried Edmond Hill ; Ozias ; John, who held the old homestead, which is still 
held by his son Edgar; Benjamin, who settled in Hopkinton ; Sarah Ann, 
died March, 1808 ; Mary Ann, who married Daniel M. Beecher and 
settled at " Beechertown " in Stockholm; Josephus, died March, 1813 ; 
Julina, who married Julius Belong, and Betsy, who married Zimri Pond of 
Galesbury, 111. 

Benjamin was a farmer and a man of some considerable position and 
standing. He was a justice of the peace for many years and a member of the 
legislature for the years 1805, 1806, 1821-1823 and 1826. 

The subject of this sketch attended the district school winters, where lit- 
tle else was taught except reading, writing, arithmetic and spelling. He did 
not, as he states in a brief sketch of his life, reach the beauties of the English 
grammar. 

He married in March, 181 I, before he was twenty -one, and soon after 
in that year came to Hopkinton and selected a piece of forest for a farm and 
home where, as he states, he then made a " little beginning in the entire 
wilderness." After making a little clearing and building a cabin, he went 
back to Vermont. In the next three years he no doubt made trips to his 
farm doing more clearing, though he did not permanently settle on it till the 
spring of 181 5. The years I 8 I 2-18 14 were stirring times along Lake Cham- 
plain and the St. Lawrence River, especially, and he enlisted and served for a 
short time in the army at Vergennes and also as a volunteer in the battle at 
Plattsburg, September 11,1814. 

The war over he moved on to his tract to make a farm and a home. In 
September of that year they met with a great sorrow in the loss of their 
two children. Thus left alone in this cabin in the woods, their bereavement 
must have been intense. Only stout hearts could have borne it. He was at 



56o EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

once recognized by his townsmen as a man of character and intelligence, since 
he was very soon and every year given some position. In the early part of 
the summer of I 8 I 8 he was appointed a justice of the peace by the governor 
or appointing board. The state authorities did not then dare to give the elec- 
tion of justice to the people or else they held it for patronage. His first official 
act was to marry a couple, which he did July 12, l8l8, but unfortunately the 
parties' names are not given. This position he held very nearly unbrokenly 
for twenty-two years. 

Conscious that he possessed abilities as a lawyer, and seeing the great 
need of a "lawgiver " in the settlement of disputes, he very early purchased 
a few law books and set to work to master the fundamental principles of the 
law. Every new community or settlement is, as we know, for some reason 
greatly given to contention and litigation. Sparse as was the population in 
those times I dare say there were ten times as many justice's trials as there are 
now. Every one went to court to hear the lawyer spout, wrangle, abuse the 
court and tear all opposing witnesses to pieces. There are a few " lawyers " 
who still do this and a few people who think it an evidence of ability. 

Beginning in a modest way he steadily advanced until he became the 
ablest and hardest fighting and most successfiil practitioner in the eastern part of 
the county. For many years this work constituted a large part of his business 
and his circuit took in the east half of St. Lawrence and a good part of Frank- 
lin County. He was a born debater, logical in reasoning, combative, abso- 
solutely fearless, tireless and indomitable. Judge Henry L. Knowles, who was one 
of the keenest and ablest lawyers in the county, once told the writer that he 
had rather meet in a trial any other man in the county than the Judge, so tire- 
less, persistent and indomitable was he. His chief opponents in trials were 
Dennis Stacy, Esq., of Nicholville, and Henry Bickford, Esq., of Dickinson, 
both able men. As showing his tireless energy and indomitable will, see trial 
of one Cook in the diary for June 2, 1842. 

He held the position of supervisor of his town for the years 1823— 1826, 
as also minor positions at other times. In 1827 he was appointed a com- 
missioner by act of the legislature to lay out a state road through fifty miles of 
wilderness (Port Kent road) and subsequently one of three commissioners to 
build the road, which they did. He was a member of the Assembly for the 
years 1829 and l 830, and also a member of the second session of the Twenty- 
first Congress from December 6, 1830, to March 3, i 831, to fill out the un- 
expired term of Silas Wright. 

He also took during these times an active part in the state militia, which 
was then maintained in all parts of the state and for which he had a great lik- 
ing. In 1827 he was commissioned a captain of a volunteer company of cav- 
alry. In 1828 and 1829 he held the position of lieutenant colonel, and in 
the two following years that of colonel of said independent regiment. For the 
years 1832 and 1833 he was commissioned a brigadier general of the state 
militia. Several men now living tell me how superbly he sat his horse and 
how proudly and grandly he handled the annual brigade encampment held in 
the field about a mile southwest of Potsdam village. 

In 1831 he was appointed a judge of the Court of Common Pleas, which 
position he held for the term of six years and from which he derived the title 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 561 

of Judge, by which he was universally known. In 1846 he held the dis- 
tinguished honor to sit in the state convention to revise the state constitution. 

Brought up a Democrat, he affiliated with that party until the reorganiza- 
tion of parties in 1856 on the slavery question, when he became a most ardent 
and loyal Republican to the end. 

Aged as he was on the breaking out of the Civil War, his patriotism and 
loyalty to the Union knew no bounds. Late in the summer or early in the 
fall of I 861 he set out to raise a regiment of men for the cause. He took 
his horse and buggy and rode all over the eastern part of the county, enlisting 
prominent men to help him in the various towns, and addressing war meetings 
in every hamlet, as I well remember. Those were stirring times indeed. So 
patriotic were the people and so energetically did he labor that in December of 
that year his regiment was organized and went into encampment for drill and 
further recruiting at Potsdam, N. Y. The barracks were built in the north 
part of the village, and the present meadow field lying north of Grove Street 
and west of Leroy was the drilling ground. The present house near the 
southwest corner of this field was his headquarters. 

The regiment was given the number ninety-two, and being fully re- 
cruited and equipped, left Potsdam on the first day of February, 1862, for 
the seat of war with Colonel Sanford at its head. A vast concourse of people 
had gathered and lined the roadway and roofs of buildings from the barracks 
to the depot to see them off. The colonel and lieutenant colonel were in a 
sleigh at the head of the regiment with the writer, a boy, standing on the 
sleigh runner and holding to the back of the seat. The band came next. 
The march had not long proceeded when the weeping, sobbing and crying of 
mothers, wives, sisters and sweethearts along the way was becoming painful. 
At this juncture the leader of the band cried out, ■' Colonel, what shall we 
play.?" and he instantly replied, "The girl I left behind me." They did 
so and it greatly inspirited and enlivened all. With ''Godspeeds" and 
" Colonel, take care of the boys," huzzahs and acclaims of all kinds, they 
took their departure. He accompanied the regiment to the banks of the James 
River, where his advanced age, seventy-two years, and ill health compelled 
him reluctantly to abandon the field. He survived this extraordinary effort 
over five years and kept up his zeal and work for the cause till the end of the 
war. The regiment did heroic and valiant service in the field. 

He was a large man, standing six feet and weighing fully two hundred 
and twenty-five pounds, erect of figure, with a military bearing, which, with 
his strong, intellectual face, made him a man of imposing and commanding 
presence. His nature was genial and very social, and he took a great interest 
in the advancement of young men, as the writer can testify. Whenever a 
matter of principle was involved or a conviction attacked he was resolute and 
most determined. No man I have ever known was more loyal to his convic- 
tions or would battle for them more tenaciously than he. To have the cour- 
age of one's convictions is said to be and is a great virtue, and he certainly 
possessed it. Indeed, so great was this quality of his nature that in his zeal 
to establish or maintain them he was utterly oblivious of all consequences 
which more discreet and politic men always keep in mind. 

His endurance, both mental and physical, was marvellous. He seemed 
to know no such thing as weariness or fatigue. Neither did he know such a 



562 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

thing as fear. He feared no man and shrank from no danger where duty or 
honor called. He was a positive force wherever placed. 

During the earlier part of his life he was the close friend and associate 
of Governor Wright, Judge Fine, Judge Allen, and later of Preston King, 
Judge James and other prominent men. Taten all in all, he was a most re- 
markable man and assisted materially in the shaping and development of all 
matters in his locality in those early pioneer times. Had ten children by first 
and four by second marriage: 

Ozias, b. September 18, l8iz, Cornwall, Vt.; d. September 15, 

I 81 5, Hopkinton, N. Y. 
Calista, b. July 2, 1814, Cornwall; d. September 25, 1815, Hop- 
kinton, N. Y. 
Henry B., b. July 22, 1816, Hopkinton; d. March 27, 1879, 
Hopkinton; m. Casendana Ellithorpe, October 14, 1838; b. No- 
vember 22, 1818; d. February 21, 1888. He took the Benjamin 
Sanford farm just east of his father, then a farm in Lawrence and 
afterwards a farm and hotel two miles east of Nicholville. He was a 
lieutenant in Co. F, 92d Regiment, N. Y. S. V. Had nine children: 
Henry T., b. April 13, 1840; d. July 16, 1897, Albany, 
N. Y.; m. Louise A. Brewster, October 14, 1 867; b. April 
16, 1841; 1. Albany. Early in 1861 he enlisted in Co. F, 
16th Regiment, was made orderly sergeant, then lieutenant 
and captain, serving the full two years of enlistment. He 
was in the battles of Bull Run, Fredericksburg, Fairfax Court 
House, West Point, Mechanicville, Gaines Mills,' Antietam, 
Golden's Farm, Charles City, Cross Roads, Savage Station, 
Malvern Hills, Salem Church, etc. After the war he studied 
for and practised law at Albany, N. Y., till his death. He 
was a large man, a good speaker and of commanding presence. 
Had five children: 

Carrie L., b. August 27, 1868; d. October 17, 

1878, Nicholville. 
Roscoe C, b. July 10, 1870; attorney, Albany, 

N. Y. ; m. Maude Graveline. No issue. 
^A^aldo H., b. September 3, 1872; physician, Sara- 
toga, N. Y. ; m. Hannah Hamlin, October 4, 1898. 
Had one child: 

Katheryn H., b. November 7, 1899. 
RoUin B., b. May 18, I 874; attorney, Albany, N. Y. 
Abbie C, b. August 19, 1878; 1. Albany. 
Erasmus Jonah, b. May 13, 1842; 1. Nicholville; m. 
Sarah A. Bibbins, April 19, 186;; 1. Nicholville. He en- 
listed into Co. F, 1 6th Regiment, June 24, 186 1, and 
was honorably discharged May 22, 1863. He was wounded 
Jime 27, 1862, at Gaines Mills, losing the third and fourth 
fingers of his left hand. Had one child: 

Ira A., b. June 9, 1877; 1. Nicholville. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 563 

Edwin D., b. January 24, 1845; I. Nicholville, N. Y. ; m. 
Lydia A. Pratt, April 26, 1866; b. May 28, 1842. He 
enlisted August 8, 1864, in Co. E, 61st Regiment, N. Y. V., 
and was disciiarged July 14, 1865. Has conducted a black- 
smith shop since the war. Had six children: 

Edwin W., b. May 4, 1867; attorney, Albany, 
N. Y. ; m. Eveline J. Thomas, August 12, 1891. 
Had three children: 

Lester E., b. October 12, 1893. 
Carl T., b. September 20, 1900. 
Donald E., b. September 20, 1900. 
Velma A., b. November 25, 1868. 
Frank B., b. May 12, 1871; physician, Morley, 

N. Y.; m. Mildred M. Frauton, June 30, 1900. 
Silas J., b. September 26, 1874; 1. Nicholville; m. 

Bertha Smith, November 16, 1897. 
Jennie C, b. October 5, 1876; 1. Nicholville. 
Eugene B., b. June 22, 1878, Philippine Islands. 
Darwin E., b. November 17, 1847; 1. Nicholville; m. 
Julia Lary, December 25, 1873; b. June 15, 1849. He 
served as orderly sergeant in Co. F, 193d Regiment, and 
was honorably discharged. Since the war has followed farm- 
ing and butter making as proprietor of Eagle Creamery at 
Nicholville. Had four children: 

Harrison D., b. November 14, 1877. 
Scott W., b. April 13, 1885. 
Jonah, b. December 10, 1887. 
Erwin, b. May 10, 1889. 
Calla C, b. June 24, 1850; d. February 8, 1854. 
Calista P. C, b. December 10, 1852; 1. Newark, N. J.; 
m. Eugene C. Moses, January i, 1877; b. June 3, 1849; d. 
September 5, 1877; m. 2d, Frank L. Chandler, b. January 
19, 1856. Had two children: 

Rose Ella, b. June 27, 1885; d. June 10, 1898. 
Grace C, b. March 17, 1889. 
Charles A., b. January 29, 1 85 5; 1. Nicholville; m. Mattie 
L. Goodale, April 11, i876;b. October 18, 1852. Had one 
child: 

C. Ralph, b. May 27, 1893. 
Anna C, b. November 11, 1857; 1. Dickinson, N. Y.; m 
Azro M. Giles, January i, 1877; b. August 23, 1850 
Had two children: 

Melbourne Hiram, b. July 25, 1879. 
Livonia Ellithorpe, b. April 22, 1885. 
Rose A., b. January 30, 1861; 1. Newark, N. J. 
Permelia, b. July 2, i8i9;d. October 16, 1886, Potsdam, N. Y. ; 
m. Erasmus D. Rfooks, November 10, 1841; b. March 6, 1818; 
d. November 13, 1897. He was a merchant at Parishville, moved 
to Potsdam in 1858, there a merchant also. He held the position of 



564 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

member of Assembly in 1857, supervisor of his town, collector of 
internal revenue from 1862 to 1876, and was very successful in 
business. He was an able and capable man. Mrs. Brooks was a 
bright, fine looking and noblewoman. Had six children: 

George S., b. December 16, 1844; d. August 16, 1849. 
Erasmus D., Jr., b. August 15, 1846; d. October 10, 
1885; m. Minnie Bridge, b. 1854; d. April 13, 1886. 
Had one child: 

Son, d. February 25, 1883. 
Herbert H., b. August 21, 1848; d. August 31, 1849. 
Abbie S., b. July 19, 1850; 1. Potsdam, N. Y. ; m. William 
S. Landers, October 30, 1877; b. January 8, 1849; d. 
October 14, 1881. Had two children: 

Son, b. October 25, 1879; d. October 27, 1879. 
Margaret B., b. June 16, 1881; 1. Potsdam, N. Y. 
Henry Gurley, b. January 23, 1853; d. October 2, 1891; 
m. Cynthia Everett, September 30, 1891; 1. Potsdam. No 
issue. 
William H.,b. September 20, 1859; d. January 13, 1887. 
Jonah, Jr., b. October 24, 1821; d. October 18, 1886, Hopkin- 
ton; m. Clarinda Risdon, February 17, 1847; b. June 23, 1822; d. 
October 19, 1893. He had charge of his father's farm until 1849, 
when he purchased the small farm on the Turnpike now owned by 
Thomas Conlin. There he and wife worked arduously, he chopping 
wood winters and drawing it to Parishville, and she with two babes 
doing the household duties. In 1853 they moved to the farm next 
westerly of Judge Sanford, where they lived till the end, which farm 
is now held by their son, Silas H. There they toiled as they had 
before, building stone wall, 'adding new buildings and additional lands, 
making a farm of over four hundred acres. From about I 863 to 1872 
he run a potato starch factory situate on the brook just north of Judge 
Sanford's residence, in addition to his farm, and very successfully. Of 
this industry only a great hole in the bank remains. He was a justice 
in 1853; assistant assessor of internal revenue from 1862 to 1872; 
supervisor, 1869 to 1873; member of Assembly, 1874 and 1875; 
supervisor, 1876 to 1885; chairman of the board for the years 1878 
and 1879. ^" '^^ latter year he was presented with a gold-mounted 
cane by the members of the board, which he highly prized. He pos- 
sessed much physical power and no man ever more enjoyed sports and 
games of all kinds, and especially feats of skill and strength. Though 
ill with diabetes for the last seven years of his life, he would wrestle 
with any man, and I do not recall his ever being thrown. He was 
keen and bright, keeping all amused and interested with his wit or 
tricks and games, which he never tired of playing on every one. In 
business he was a decided success, for, starting with very little, he 
gained a competence, and had he been placed with greater opportuni- 
ties I feel confident his success would have been correspondingly 
greater. His discernment, estimates of value, and business sagacity 
equalled, if they did not surpass, that of any man I have ever known. 




CARLTON ELISHA SANFORD. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 565 

His judgment in a deal or business venture was almost unerring. In 
all his life no man ever had a more faithful, loyal and persistent assist- 
ant and helpmeet. Always kind and gentle, never complaining, do- 
ing her duties as she saw them, with a grace and ease that were surpris- 
ing, nursing the sick, giving to the poor, consoling the afflicted, loving 
all, she was herself lovable and beloved by every man or woman or 
child that came into her sweet and benign presence. Such a sphit, 
such a woman, was Clarinda Risdon Sanford, and I fear not to say it 
since I hear it everywhere in compiling this work, nine years after her 
death. I would say more had she not requested that little be 
written on her departure. If she now be conscious, and I feel sure 
she is if any of all the dead are conscious, I trust the httle I have 
written is no infraction of her parting wish. Had four children: 

Carlton Elisha, b. December 31, 1847; I. Potsdam, N. Y. ; 
m. Frances Merritt, December 21, 1893; b. March 12, 
1859. No issue. Attended school at Cornell University, 
1869 to 1 871; studied law with Tappan & Erwin and at 
the Albany Law School; admitted to the bar in 1873; prac- 
tised actively at Potsdam till 1892 and privately since. Or- 
ganized the People's Bank in May, 1889, been its president' 
since; took charge of organization of the Potsdam Savings 
Loan and Building Association in 1889, and been its attorney 
since; was an incorporator of and vice-president of the 
Racquette River Paper Company from 1892 to 1900; also 
one of the incorporators of the Thatcher Manufacturing Com- 
pany and for some years its vice-president, which position he 
still holds; sole executor of his father's will; alternate dele- 
gate to the National Repubhcan Convention at Chicago in 
1888, and delegate to the Minneapolis Convention in 1892; 
compiler and editor of this work. 
Silas Harmon, b. March 9, 1849; 1. Hopkinton, N. Y. 
Alice Clarinda, b. May 15, 1852; 1. Somerville, Mass.; 
m. Lester C. Shepard, September 2, 1873; b. September 15, 
1850. No issue. 

Herbert Jonah, b. April 1, 1861; merchant, Parishville, 
N. Y.; m. Bertha Olivia Chittenden, June 28, 1882; b. 
March 21, 1862. Had four children: 

Son, b. July 15, 1884; d. September 6, 1884. 
Alice Edna, b. December 23, 1887. 
Floyd H., b. January 5, 1891; d. October 6, 1891. 
Varick Risdon, b. February 2, 1898. 
Abigail, b. February 11, 1823; d. August 5, 1835. 
Cordelia, b. June 29, 1825; d. August 2;, 1826. 
Silas W., b. February n, 1829; d. in Omaha, Neb., 1896; m. 
Mary Baker. No issue. Attended Burlington University, went to 
California and Australia in gold fever times. He was a short, 
stocky man and of extraordinary agility and physical strength. His 
feats as an athlete, wrestler, etc., are still told. 



566 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Celestia B., b. March 29, 1833; d. March 8, 1898, Helena, 
Mont.; m. Valentine T. Priest of Parishville, April i, 1854; b. June 
16, 183 I ; d. January 8, 1890. Had five children: 

Calista Abby, b. October 25, 1855; d. June 11, 1856. 
Permelia Clarinda, b. August 10, 1859; 1- Philbrook, 
Mont.; m. Clarence M. Goodell, August 15, 1880. Had 
four children: 

Homer Thomas, b. November 18, 1882. 
Ruby Alice, b. April 26, 1885. 
Garnet Alberta, b. August 12, 1892. 
Myrtle C, b. April 17, 1894. 
Mary Abby, b. June 28, 1861; d. January 15, 1865. 
Celestia Sanford, b. August 13, 1863; d. January 28, 

1865. 
Alice Sanford, b. January 10, 1868; 1. Marysville, Mont.; 
m. Frank Duff, June 2, 1892. Had one child: 
Margurite Alice, b. March 9, 1893. 
Rollin O., b. November 29, 1837; d. July 29, 1864, Anderson- 
ville Prison; m. Ermina Roberts, March i ;, 1859; b. May 20, 1840; 
I. Fort Jackson. He was a large and powerful man. He enlisted 
into Co. L, 7th New York Heavy Artillery, went through the 
Wilderness campaign, taken prisoner before Petersburg and confined 
in Andersonville Prison where he died. His widow afterwards mar- 
ried Russell Coolidge. Had three children: 

Lillian C, b. March 31, i86o; 1. Contoocook, N. H. ; m. 

Levi A. TSlewell, August 26, 1884. No issue. 
Jannette A., b. September 3, i86i; d. November 25, 

1863. 
Rollin J., b. July 29, 1864; I. Potsdam; m. Marium L. 
Miller, August 28, 1884; b. May 29, 1865. Had two 
children: 

Howard, b. January 19, 1889. 
Carlton Miller, b. January 3, 1901. 
Simeon H., b. April 3, 1847; d. April 13, 1891; m. Alice P. 
Phippen, May 4, 1872; b. May 4, 1 85 I; d. December 12, 1887. 
He held the old homestead till his death and was the hardest worker 
and the most optimistic person that I ever knew. Had four children: 
May, b. February 28, 1873; d. August 29, 1884. 
Roderic J., b. September 23, 1874; d. March 13, 1894. 
Harriet C, b. September 6, 1881; teacher. 
Ernest Jay, b. August 16, 188;. 
Harriet Barney, b. March 4, 1850; 1. Hopkinton; m. Samuel E. 
Eastman, December 21, 187 1. He owns the east part of farm of 
his grandfather Samuel. No issue. 
Twins, b. 1853, a son and daughter, died in infancy. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 567 

HEMAN SHELDON, b. March 3, 1789, Rupert, Vt.; d. November 
27, 1830; m. Esther Reed, February 4, i8lz; b. December 18, 1791, 
Fawlet, Vt.; d. March 12, 1872. Had six children: 

Ezra R., b. November 27, 1813; d. February 2, 1893; m- Clarissa 
Perkins, January 4, 1838; d. December 6, 1887. No issue. 
Adopted daughters: 

Almeda Freeman and Minnie Rockwood. 
Permelia, b. October 29, 18 16; d. April 21, 1891; m. Eleazer 
Parker, September 14, 1837. Had six children: 

Sarah A., b. July g, 1838; I. Plumbrook, N. Y.; m. Carl- 
ton Wells, December 12, 1858. Had four children: 

Hattie A., b. May 19, 1862; m. Newton I. Pres- 
cott, September, 188 I. Had one child: 
Roy Wells, b. April 7, 1886. 
Nina Belle, b. August 28, 1870; d. September 1, 

1874. 
Robbie Wells, b. January 10, 1876; d. April 10, 

1876. 
King Barton, b. June 4, 1878; d. June 19, 1886. 
John S., b. September 9, 1839. Served in 60th Regiment 

during Civil War; married; 1. Hillsdale, Mich. 
Henry A., b. July 28, 1842. Served three years in Civil 
War in 60th Regiment; married and has family; 1. Gold- 
thwaite, Texas. 
Ezra S., b. October 28, 1844; 1. St. Agnes, Canada; m. 
Mary Briggs, July 4, 1869; b. March 14, 1852. Had 
three children: 

Carrie I., b. November 2, 1870; d. December 7, 

1870. 
Gertrude A., b. October 10, 1871; d. June 10, 

1897; m. L. D. Crites, December 27, 1894. 
Floyd I., b. May 19, 1879; 1. St. Agnes; m. Bea- 
trice M. Donnelly, October 7, 1898. Had two 
children: 

Vance B., b. July 14, 1899. 
Luella, b. November 13, 1901. 
Mary A., b. July 28, 1846; 1. Aultsville, Canada; m. Wil- 
ham Henry Beach, November 9, 1 865; b. April 9, 1842. 
Had three children: 

William Fremont, b. October 3, 1866; 1. Aults- 
ville; m. Emma B. Empey, October 5, 1887, New- 
ark, N. J. Had one child: 

Winnona Beatrice, b. August 22, 1890. 
Myrtie May, b. January 31, 1868; 1. Aultsville, 
Canada; m. George W. Markell, September 20, 1887. 
Had three children: 

Hazel Emma, b. April ii, 1889. 



y 



568 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Floyd Beach, b. June 18, 1895; d. June 

20, 1895. 
Lloyd Wallace, b. June 18, 1895; d. June 
20, 1895. 
Cecil Parker, b. June 8, 1881. 
Alice L., b. May 14, 1854; 1. St. Agnes; m. William 
Stovvell, June 27, I 88 I ; b. June 22, 1835. Had five chil- 
dren: 

Georgiana, b. April 29, 1882; d. April 23, 1895. 
Thomas W., b. September 6, 1884. 
Myrtle M., b. September i, 1886. 
Guy P., b. June 2, 1891. 
Mabel L., b. April 23, 1894. 
Almeda, b. May 24, 1818; d. July 9, 1842; m. James Freeman, 
February 23, 1837. Had two children: 

Daniel R., b. March 31, 1840, Loyal, Wis. 
Almeda C, b. July 5, 1842; d. May 31, 1862. 
Christiana, b. October 22, 1820; d. October 9, 1864; m. George 
Rockwood, January 25, 1844; d. October 8, 1889, at Wasioga, 
Minn. Had eight children: 

Dr. Heman S., b. November l, 1844, in Stockholm; 1. 
Bombay, N. Y.; m. Martha A. Davis, b. November 18, 
1847. Mr. Rockwood enlisted in 1862 in Co. E, io6th 
Regiment, New York State Volunteers, was wounded May 6, 
1864, in Wilderness and at the battle of Winchester, Septem- 
ber 19, 1864, lost his right arm. He is a physician at 
Bombay, N. Y. Had five children: 

Fred A., b. November 21, 1873; d. June 12, 1890. 
George K., b. August 5, 1876; m. Florence A. 
Dunn. Had one child: 

Grace C, b. March I, 1901. 
Mabel L., b. March 21, 1882; d. April 17,1883. 
Ezra, b. July 26, 1884; d. August 30, 1896. 
Henry J., b. October 15, 1891. 
Silas, b. July 24, 1846; 1. Hopkinton; m. Susan Sherman, 
December 31, 1868. Had one child: 

Clara, b. September 7, 1872; 1. Hopkinton; m.. Dell 
Jenne, November 27, 1895. Had one child: 
Lawrence J., b. May 20, 1897. 
Harvey A., b. October 19, 1848; m. Amelia M. Lang in 
1868; d. 1883, La Fayette, Ind.; m. 2d, Julia Etta Pride of 
Monon, Ind., in 1886. Had two children by first and one 
by second marriage: 

Mary C. and Burton L. 
Frances \Ai'illard, b. June 11, 1895. 
William W^., b. April 22, 1850; 1. Curtis, Neb.; m. Nettie 
Ford, October I, 1874, at Onarga, 111. Had two children: 
Sidney William, b. May 12, 1883, Onarga, 111. 
Pansy A., b. November 28, 1888, at Curtis, Neb. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 569 

Edward E., b. July 3, 1853; d. July 4, 1876. His death 
was caused by the firing of an anvil as an early morning salute 
at Jonah Sanford's, where he worked. He was a fine young 
man and his death a sad one. 
Fayette P., b. May i;, 1855; 1. North Adams, Mass.; m. 
Emma M. Palsipher, December 13, 1876. Had three chil- 
dren: 

Muriel C, b. March 19, 1878. 
Merton Reed, b. August 20, 188 1. 
Edward Eugene, b. July 23, 1886. 
Ettie M., b. January 23, 1857; d. October 14, 1888; m. 
Charles Faulkner, March, 1878. Had one child: 
Harley, b. June 24, 1879; 1. Parishville. 
Minnie R.,b. December 19, i860; m. Edwin H. Brownell, 
April 5, 1878. She was adopted by her uncle, Ezra R. 
Sheldon. Had seven children: 

William E., b. July 14, 1880; m. Blanch W. 
Haven, February 22, 1899. Had one child: 
Fay, b. April 11, 1901. 
Fred H., b. June 8, 1884; d. March 16, 1886. 
Gerald L,., b. June 22, 1886. 
Mary A., b. September 29, 1887. 
Grace M., b. August 7, 1890. 
Earl H., b. March 25, 1891. 
Gladys B., b. May 15, 1893. 
Phebe, b. February 17, 1824; d. November 24, 1872. Never 

married. 
Sarah, b. January 13, 1829; 1. Hopkinton; m. Loyal T. Sprague, 
b. December 6, 181 2; d. January 19, 1855; m. 2d, Orman 
Beecher, March 8, 1859; b. April 7, 1821. Had one child by 
first and five by second marriage: 

Dr Loyal P., b. April 13, 1853; I. Peoria, 111.; m. Hattie 
F. Lang, June 18, 1874; d. November 24, 1880; m. 2d, 
Jennie Smith, June, 1882. Had two children by each 
marriage : 

Harlie H. P., b. May 20, 1875; d. June 9, 1894. 
L. Pyler, b. December 29, 1878; d. May 29, 1880. 
Loyal P., Jr., b. July 27, 1884. 
Mary Adelaide, b. March 21, 1890. 
Carrie A., b. May 26, i860; d. August 27, i860. 
Elmer S., b. June 27, 1861; 1. Peoria, 111.; m. Sarah Wade 
January i, 1885. Had four children: 

Roy Orman, b. January 2, 1886. 
Stella M., b. November 9, 1887. 
Jason, b. November 13, 1889. 
Sprague, b. April 14, 1892. 
Almeda C, b. June 22, 1863; 1. Hopkinton. 



570 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Ruth A., b. August 4, 1866; m. John D. Murphy, Septem- 
ber 4, 1887. Had two children: 
Glenn B., b. April i, 1887. 
Alice M., b. September 17, 1889. 
Azro E., b. February 5, 1872; 1. Parishville; m. Ella D. 
Mclntyre, July 4, 1894; d. August 26, 1895. Had one 
child: 

Milo R., b. August 25, 1895. 
Orman Beecher married for his first wife Ruth Moses, December 3 I , 
185 I; b. 1826; d. July 1, 1857. Had three children: 
Alma A., b. April 20, 1853; d. May 18, 1853. 
Charles M., b. February 21, 1855; 1. La Fayette, 111.; m. 
Helen Mae Reeve, March 6, 1880; b. July 20, 1858. Had 
four children: 

Carl Milton, b. October 22, 1883. 
Verne Adalbert, b. February 21, 1886. 
Nina Louise, b. February 7, 1888. 
Helen Ruth, b. March 31, 1891. 
Miner A., b. May 24, 1857; d. September 17, 1857. 

IRA SMITH, b. January 30, 1797; d. March 4, 1874; m. Lucy Post, 
September 25, 1823; b. October i, 1796, Dorset, Vt. ; d. February 9, 1865. 
He built a house across the road from the Post home, known as the Winnie 
place, and moved to Stockholm about I 833, then to Dresden, Ohio, in 1 84 1, 
and to Reedsburg, Wis., in 1850. David Covey, Samuel B. Abbott, Eli- 
sha Risdon and Mr. Smith married sisters. Had seven children: 

Harry, b. July 26, 1824, 1. Reedsburg, Wis.; m. Urania Stanley; d. 

February 16, 1892. No issue. 
Norman C, b. November 24, 1825; 1. Hamilton, Mo.; m. Hannah 

Kelsey; d. No issue. 
James M., b. August 2, 1827; 1. Aniwa, Wis.; m. Isabel Bernard, 
May 23, i860; b. October 4, 1838; d. January 17, 1866, 
Reedsburg, Wis.; m. 2d, Amanda Whitley, October 10, 1867; b. 
April 27, 1842; d. November i, 1899, at Reedsburg, Wis. Had 
two children by first and one by second marriage: 

Lucy, b. October 7, 1861; d. August 21, 1885; m. Enoch 
Shultis. Had three children: 

Lee, b. November 24, 1881. 
Isabel, b. September 30, 1883. 
Clara, b. August 6, 188;. 
Clara E., b. March 29, 1863; I. Lapwai, Idaho; m. Jay 
N. Armstrong, May 8, 1886. Had four children: 
James N., b. July 5, 1887. 
Ervin A., b. December 18, 1889. 
Max N., b. July 27, 1891; d. October 26, 1901. 
Bernard S., b. October 17, 1893. 
Mary Belle, b. August 20, 1870; 1. Aniwa, Wis.; m. 
August Halbeslaven. Had four children: 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 571 

Arthur A., b. August 31, 1894. 
Ruby A. , b. May 1 1 , 1 897 ; d. September 18,1 900. 
James, b. January iz, 1899. 
Paul D., b. July 2, 1902. 
Esther, b. February 19, 1 83 1; 1. Reedsburg, Wis.; m. Jonathan 
Nye; d. 1881. Had five children: 

Sibley, b. May 19, 1856; d. January 26, 1901. 
Lizzie, b. April 5, 1861; 1. Reedsburg; m. Enoch Shultis. 
Had five children: 

Esther, b. June 25, 1887. 
Ross and Roe, b. June 9, 1890. 
Royal and Ruth, b. August 10, 1897. 
Ira, b. October 11, 1862; 1. Pullman, Wash.; m. Bertha Sar- 
geant. Had five children: 

Erie Watson, b. March 24, 1886. 
Clark Stanley, b. September 11, 1887. 
Ruby Ellen, b. December 20, 1889. 
Ruth Esther, b. June 9, 1895. 
Clara Irene, b. March 14, 1897. 
Marion, b. March 12, 1867; 1. Reedsburg. 
Mary, b. March 12, 1867; 1. Reedsburg; m. Montrose Pel- 
ton. Had two children: 

Annie, b. November 11, 1890. 
Nye, b. January 19, 1894. 
Hannah P., b. September 25, 1832; d. March 7, 1859; m. Rod- 
ney F. Cole, d. 1897. No issue. 
Eliza L., b. June 27, 1834; 1. Reedsburg; m. Clement Stanley, d. 
June 15, 1877; m. 2d, Harvey Treadwell. Had two children by 
first marriage: 

Herbert, b. February 8, 1870. 
Arthur, b. November 2, 1 871. 
Jesse, b. December 30, 1837; 1. Reedsburg; m. Catherine Decker; 
d. ; m. 2d, Emmarine Corson. No issue. 

BENJAMIN SANFORD, b. May 7, 1797, Cornwall, Vt.; d. Hadley, 
Mich.; m. Lucy Simonds, 1816; d. June 22, 1 87 1. He was a brother of 
Judge Jonah Sanford, seven years younger than he, and took the second tract 
east of that of the Judge, opposite that of Seth Putnam. When he came to 
town is uncertain. The Judge did not actually settle in town till 181 5, 
though I think Benjamin must have secured his tract prior to this, though a 
minor, else he could not have got it, since the settlers had gone on west of 
this prior to 1815. He lived on the place till about 1840, when he sold 
out to his brother and finally settled in Hadley, Mich., where he died. His 
widow married James Smith and settled at Chateaugay Lake, where she died. 
Had seven children: 

Maria, b. January 23, 1817; d. Hadley, Mich.; m. Abner Greene, 

1834. I hear she had five daughters, but I get the names of only 

three: 



J 



572 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Edna, Marion and Flora, who married Byron Harris and 
lives at Mayville, Mich. 
^ Permelia, b. January 17, 1819; d. May zl, 1893, at Fort Jackson; 
m. Franklin Kellogg, May 24, 1837; b. February 14, 1816; d. 
March 17, 1877. Mr. Kellogg was born at Shoreham, Vt. He 
was a large man, a blacksmith and settled at Fort Jackson, where he 
opened a shop and prospered, soon building a large stone shop just 
west of his stone residence. After a few years he opened a store at 
the north end of the bridge with Caleb Wright, and later built the 
present store at the south end of the bridge. In about 1854 he built 
a fine stone residence across the road from the last store, which burned 
down in 1896. He was an intelligent man, active in all public 
matters and held various town offices. Had nine children: 

Harrison F., b. May 13, 1838; d. October, 1900, at 
Chazy, N. Y. ; m. Minerva Ballou, November 2;, 
1857; d. 1881; m. 2d, Mrs. Augusta (Lawrence) Phelps, 
1882; 1. Plattsburg. Had two children: 

Charles H., b. April 24, 1859; 1. Fort Covington; 
m. Jane Langdon, November 30, 1 88 1. Had three 
children: 

King, b. August 22, 1884. 
Millard, b. June 20, 1886. 
Minerva, b. March 4, 1889. 
Addie L., b. September 11, 1863; 1. Nicholville; 
m. Merton Day, October 31, 1881. Had one 
child: 

Howard, b. June 8, 1883. 
Lourane Lucy Ann, b. June 16, 1841; d. July 19, 1844. 
John Sanford, b. February 14, 1845; 1. Potsdam; m. Lucia 
Hazelton, November 25, 1867; d. ; m. 2d, Cora Blow, Sep- 
tember 30, 1887. Had seven children by first and three 
by second marriage: 

Cora Belle, b. October 6, 1868; I. Carthage, 

N. Y. ; m. Andy McGowan. Issue. 
Guy Robert, b. July 23, 1870; 1. Ogdensburg; m. 

May Gardner. No issue. 
Neva Lucy, b. January 16, 1 87 2; 1. Lynn, Mass.; 

m. Charles Fisk. No issue. 
John S., b. December 24, 1874; !• Potsdam; m. 
Ella Fitzgerald, June 10, 1899. Had one child: 
Margaret Alma, b. June 9, 1900. 

Lulu May, b. February 7, 1877; m. Sanford. 

Issue. 
Annetta, b. November 13, 1 879; 1. Gouverneur, 

N. Y. ; m. Stevenson. No issue. 

Elmer, b. August 13, 1884; d. 
Roy H., b. September 13, 1888. 
Ruth B., b. August 9, 1896. 
Doris L., b. June 16, 1901. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 573 

Loretta, b. October 19, 1847; d. November 2, 1847. 
Fayette N., b. December 11, 1848;!. Fort Jackson; m. 
Alice Phelps, March 28, 1878. Had two children: 
Paul, b. October zo, 1884. 
Gladys. 
Annette P., b. December 5, 1850; 1. West Chazy, N. Y. ; 
m. Henry Wells, January i, 1869; m. zd, George H. 
Pringle, November 8, 1894. No issue. 
James E., b. March z, 1852; d. July 19, 185Z. 
Frank W., b. August z, 1855; 1. Fort Jackson; m. Ella 

Moody, I 88 1. No issue. 
Lillian A., b. June zz, 1859; 1. Potsdam, N. Y. ; m. John 
R. Peet. Had one child: 
Marion. 
Lucy Ann, b. January 23, i8zi; d. June, 1842; single, Shoreham, 
Vt. 
'Daniel, b. May 10, 1823; 1. Tawas City, Mich.; m. Annetta Mills, 
1840; d. May I, 1849, at Hadley, Mich.; m. 2d, Mrs. Philena 
(Howell) Tower, January 30, l850;d. January 3, 1900; m. 3d, 
Mrs. Amanda Palmer, November 9, 190 1. Had one child by first 
and one by second marriage: 

Permelia Annetta, b. April 10, 1849; 1. Millington, 
Mich.; m. Henry B. Henderson, January 17, 1870. Is 
postmaster. Had four children: 

Heman Daniel, b. October 16, 1870; d. Decem- 
ber z6, 1870. 
Amanda, b. February 15, 187Z. 
Ralph Charles, b. April 14, 1877. Druggist. 
Clare Sanford, b. July iz, 1881; I. Badaxe, Mich. 
Clara R., b. September 15, 1 85 1; 1. Millington, Mich.; m. 
William Warren Summers, April i, 1880; d. March 12, 
1887; m. zd, Labanah L.Cardwell, March z6, 1890. Had 
two children: 

Harry J., b. December zi, i88z; artist; 1. Chicago. 
Theo Marguerille, b. August 15, l8gi ; d. June z, 
1 90 1. 
Betsey Ann, b. May zo, i8z8; d. 1852; m. Hiram Bellows, 185Z. 

No issue. 
Cynthia, b. September 26, 1830, in Hopkinton; d. March 16, 1868; 
m. Lewis Bellows, February 14, 1 849; b. January I, 1813; d. 
June 17, 1886. Had five children: 

Georgiana F., b. January 20, 1850; 1. Plattsburg; m. 
James N. Mead; m. zd, Zenona Richardson. Had two 
children by first marriage: 

Cynthia J., b. May 6, 1868; d. December 14, 
1 891; m. Warren W. Guibord, August 14, 1885. 
Erastus S., b. May 30, 1871; 1. Boston, Mass. 



574 ' EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Millard S., b. September ii, 1852; 1. Chateaugay Lake; m. 
Katherine Potter. Had three children: 
Lulie May, b. January 10, 1889. 
Kna, b. December 17, l8gi. 
Son, b. October, 1902. 
Lucy Anna, b. January 30, 1859; 1. Malone, N. Y. ; m. 
N. Monroe Marshall, May 15, 1877. Mr. M. was 
county clerk of Franklin County from 1886 to 1892, and is 
now president of the People's Bank of Malone, N. Y. Had 
four children: 

N. Louie, b. May 6, 1878; d. October 25, 1886. 
Jessie Georgie, b. July 10, 1880, Chateaugay Lake. 
Aluin Quman, b. February 10, 1885, Chateaugay 

Lake. 
Mildred Lulie, b. October 30, 1888, Malone. 
May, b. May 17, 1863; 1. Trenton, N. J.; m. William 
Stacey; d. Had two children: 

Millard, b. October 7, 1884, Lyon Mountain, 

N. Y. 
Richard, b. February 3, 1889; 1. Norton Creek, 

P. CL 

Chester H., b. April 5, 1867; 1. Lyon Mountain, N. Y.; 
m. Agnes Brown. Had three children: 
Leroy, b. August 23, 1890. 
Lillian, b. March 12, 1892. 
Harold. 
Harriet, b. May 30, 1835; 1. Plattsburg; m. John Winnie, Febru- 
ary 15, 1855. No issue. 

I 

(jOSIAH SMITH, b. Tunbridge Vt. ; d. August 28, 1863; m. Sally 
Corwin, b. April 7, 1795; d. Junuary 21, 1872. Came to Hopkinton in 
1833, settled, lived and died on farm purchased of Dr. Hosea Brooks next 
westerly of Mr. Risdon. Had five children: 

John C, b. September 2, 1818; d. December 10, 1886; m. Cath- 
erine Winnie, September 4, 1844; b. February I, 1822; d. June 
13, 1887. Lived on south side of Turnpike, very near what was 
called the Pinnacle in that road. Had three children: 

Emily C, b. June 14, 1846; d. October 20, 1861. 
Salina C, b. May 20, 1848; 1. Chelsea, Vt. ; m. Hiram 
Kingsbury, July 29, 1875. Had two children: 
Herbert J., b. January 13, 1877. 
Emily, b. January 23, 1879. 
Josiah H., b. April 29, 1852; 1. Hopkinton; m. Eva Thar- 
ret, June 2, 1887. Had one child: 
J. Floyd, b. April 23, 1890, 
Mary, b. May 15, 1820; 1. Hopkinton; m. David Leach, April 10, 
1842; b. August 30, I 8 16; d. April 17, 1900. Had two children: 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 575 

Frances, b. September 27, 1843; d. April 19, 1859. 
Ella H., b. March 31, 1845; d. September 4, 1900; m. 
Carlos Colton, May 20, 189I; b. April 5, 1834; 1. Col- 
ton, N. Y. No issue. 
Loren, b. June 22, 1822; d. June l, 1902; m. Helen M. Stacy, 
August 20, 1847; b. June i, 1829; 1. Hopldnton. He kept the 
old homestead now held by his widow and son. Had three children: 
Emma, b. August 26, 1848; 1. Madison, O.; m. Hiram 
Snell, March 7, 1869; b. May 7, 1841. Had three chil- 
dren. (See Isaac Snell family.) 
Adelbert S., b. April 17, 1856; 1. Hopkinton; m. Eva 
Roberts, October 29, 1879; b. March 3, I 861. Had four 
children : 

Carroll A., b. March 31, 1884; d. February 22, 

1890. 
Viola E., b. September 14, 1885. 
Roy C, b. July 27, 1895; d. February 6, 1896. 
Gerald R., b. August 16, 1901. 
Hattie M., b. October 27, i860; 1. Worcester, Mass.; m. 
John Lindsay, October 26, 1885; b. November 4, 1859. 
Had one child: 

Harry B., b. December 6, 1888. 
George, b. April 7, 1824; d. July 5, 1896; m. Ellen Post, Septem- 
ber 15, 1852; b. September 2, 1827; d. March 22, 1901. He 
took east part of home farm and in 1870 purchased the E. Harmon 
Risdon farm formerly owned by Asahel Kent, both now owned by 
his son Royal. Mr. Smith and wife were in every way most highly 
respected. Had seven children: 

Amanda, b. August 28, 1853; 1. West Stockholm; m. 
Charles Coffey, March 6, 1895; b. August 10, 1853. No 
issue. 
Herbert, b. April 18, 1855; 1. Fort Jackson; m. Bertha 
Gibson, January 3, 1883; b. November 16, 1858. Had 
one child: 

George J., b. July 26, 1893. 
George, b. September 26, 1857; 1. Hopkinton; m. Celestia 
Peck, December 19, 1883; b. June 29, 1859. Had one 
child: 

Ethel, b. July 25, 1889. 
Judson, b. October 26, 1859; 1. Wollaston, Mass.; m. 
Florence A. Eastman, October 15, 1884. Had two chil- 
dren: 

Marion F., b. November 28, 1891. 
Stanley E., b. July 15, 1896. 
Edwin E., b. August 6, 1861; 1. Wollaston, Mass.; m. 
Clara E. Roberts, December 15, 1886; b. January 1 1, 1865. 
No issue. 



576 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Royal, b. March 31, 1863; 1. Hopkinton; m. Hattie Pierce, 

March 9, 1883; b. September 27, 1863. No issue. 
Emerette, b. April 3, 1865; d. July 13, 1882. 
Hannah, b. November 27, 1832; d. February 23, 1890; m. Carlos 
Colton, May I, i860; 1. Colton, N. Y. No issue. 



JOSEPH SHEALS, b. 1783; d. February 18, 1828; m. Charlotte Nich- 
ols, b. May 6, I 791 , Jamaica, Mass. ; d. June 28, I 86 1. Joseph Sheals was 
born in the County of Cavan, Ireland, and came to America in 1805, bear- 
ing testimonials from the pastor of his church, the magistrate of the parish and 
from the several lodges of Masons, testifying to his high moral and Christian 
character as a citizen, a member of a church, a regular Master Mason, an 
honored member of the grand chapter of Royal Arch Masons and a knight of 
the orders of Knights Templar and Knights of Malta. He settled in Orville, 
Vt., where he married and where six of the seven children were born. He 
removed to Nicholville (Hopkinton side) in 1824 and kept a hotel. He 
died in 1828, and his widow married Asahel Kent. Had seven children: 
Nancy S., b. August 5, 1813; d. in early girlhood. 
Mary Hall, b. March 28, 181 5; d. November 15, i898;m. E. H. 

Risdon, February 18, 1835. (See Elisha Risdon's record.) 
William A., b. September 17, 1817; d. July z, 1888; m. Mehet- 
able P. Lamson, June 22, 1843; b. October 14, 1820, Plainfield, 
Vt.; d. February 25, 1895. He worked for Elisha Risdon quite a 
little, as the diary shows. He and Dyer L. Merrill married sisters 
and took the Baldwin farm in partnership, which Mr. Merrill after- 
wards owned and lived on many years. Mr. Sheals bought a farm 
three miles south of Hopkinton village, and in February, 1856, while 
chopping in the woods a tree fell upon his leg, which made him lame 
for life. Later he removed to Hopkinton village, where he died. 
Had five children: 

Harriet Augusta, b. September 26, 1847; d. June i, 1852. 
Augustus W., b. March 9, 1852; attorney;]. Brushton, 
N. Y.; m. Sarah L. Taylor, February 15, 1888. Had five 
children: 

William Taylor, b. January 27, 1889. 
Charlotte Elizabeth, b. March 7, 1891. 
Ralph A., b. March 26, 1893. 
Vincent A., b. January 30, 1897. 
Helen E., b. July 11, 1899. 
Dyer M., b. August 30, 1854; d. June 22, 1859. 
Orra Alice, b. May 11, 1857; d. September 28, 1863. 
Charlotte S., b. December 8, 1859; m. Asher B. Allen, 
November 9, 1893; 1. Brushton, N. Y. 
Aaron, b. September 17, 1819; d. in childhood. 

Sarah E., b. June 21, 1821; d.; m. Stephen Wescott, January 29, 
1844. Had one child: 

Cassius E., b. 1845; d. 1862. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 577 

John J., b. February 5, 18Z4; d. May ii, 1882, Sharon, Ohio; m. 
Eliza D. Andrus, 1853; b. 1828, Newbury, Ohio; d. 1868. Had 
two children: 

Clara E., b. June 6, 1854; 1. Wadsworth, Ohio; m. Solomon 
Keller, October 3, 1872; b. April 12, 1847; d. January 30, 
1900. Had three children: 

Sadie, b. July 24, 1873; 1. Wadsworth, Ohio; m. 
Girard Geisinger, July 22, 1899; b. October 16, 

1877. Had one child: 
Clara, b. October 7, 1901. 

Ethie, b. February 12, 1879; 1. Wadsworth, Ohio; 
m. Frank Long, April 28, 1900; b. September 7, 

1878. No issue. 

Katie, b. November 13, 1885. 
Lewis L., b. January 9, 1861; d. October 15, 1894; m. 
Mary ShafFer, March, 1882. Had four children: 
John C, b. March 2, 1883. 
Fred, b. September 17, 1885. 
Clara, b. October, 1888. 
Kate, b. February, 1892. 
Harriet Janet, b. September 16, i8z6; d. April 7, 1894; m. 
Charles Porter Robinson, September 16, 1846; b. 1825; d. January 
13, 1900. Mr. and Mrs. Robinson lived for some years near his 
parents two miles west of Parishville on the Colton road. They 
rpmoved to Nevada, Iowa, in 1857, where their only child was 
born, and from there to Santa Barbara, Colo., in 1887, where both 
died. Had one child: 

James Lincoln, b. July 7, i860. 



ZEBEL THOMAS, b. 1754, Claremont, N. H.; d. 1835, aged eighty- 
one years; m. Lois Damon, b. Claremont, N. H.; d. 1 8 19. Came to 
Hopkinton in 1805, and settled on the east part of the farm now owned by 
David F. Henderson. The record is very incomplete. Had nine children, 
all born in New Hampshire: 

John, b. 1778; d. 1870, Browning, Vt., aged ninety-two years; m. 

Asenah Mead; m. 2d, Vale, a widow. He built a hotel in 

Ogdensburg, gristmill in Lisbon and then hotel with Masonic hall on 
the corner where Chittenden's store stands. (See article on hotels 
in Hopkinton for his experience with customs officers.) In 1820, 
1821, he built a distillery on the bank of the river in the rear of the 
residence of Samuel Goodell. After this he went to Ann Arbor and 
built the first woollen factory in the state, also a brick yard. In 1838 
he came back and built sawmill, gristmill, etc., in Dickinson, when 
all woods. Had two children by first and two by second marriage: 
Heman, d. in California. 
Mead, d. in Michigan. 
Mason, d. in Ogdensburg. 
Lucy, d. in Michigan; also her mother. 



578 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Joseph, d. 1 88 1, Dover, Del. Wife's name not known. Settled 
on one of the Crary farms in Pierrepont, went to Upper Canada in 
1830, and in 1869 went to Dover, Del., to live with son Hiram. He 
was insane for many years. Had five children: 

Lucius, physician, killed by cars at Dover in 1894. 
Stephen, d. in Dover in 1895, aged seventy-five years, and 

rich. 
Hiram, 1. Dover, Del. 
Eber, 1. Dover, Del. 
John, physician in Rochester. 
TA^illiam, d. in Bangor, N. Y. Settled in Bangor, went to Michi- 
gan and came back to Bangor. He married a widow McComber, 
who is now living with her son, George McComber, in Dickinson, 
at the advanced age of lOI years, September 10, 1 901. Had one 
child by first wife: 
Daughter. 
Harvey. Wife's name not known. Was a pack peddler, went into 
grocery and dry goods business in Ogdensburg, was a director in the 
first companies to build a railroad to the lake, built wall on the bank 
of the Oswegatchie, became insane, left a large property. Had one 
child: 

Harvey, 1. Rochester, N. Y. 
James, d. 1881, Lawrence, N. Y. ; m. Martha Mead. Lived on 
farm with father and then in Lawrence. Had one child: 

Abner P., d. February, 1895, aged sixty-nine years. 
Anna, b. 1782; d. 1872, Norwood, N. Y., aged ninety; m. Abner 

Paine of Hopkinton; m. zd, Sidney Hale of Pierrepont. 
Chauncey D., b. 1789; d. August 8, 1864, Lawrence, N. Y.; m. 
Hannah Blanchard, September, 1810; b. Rutland, Vt., 1 7 88; d. 
February 19, 1863. Was a blacksmith, came to Hopkinton in 1807, 
had shop just north of Chittenden store, was there at the time of the 
British raid in 1814. Kept hotel in log house in Russell in 181 5; 
then moved to Clinton, Camden, Parish, Thomasville, etc. Had 
ten children: 

Nancy M.,b. March 14, 181 2, Hopkinton; d. July 6, 1818. 
Chauncey D., b. September 9, 181 5, Russell; d. 1863 in 
war at Helena, Ark.; wife's name unknown. Had two 
children: 

Harry, 1. New Lebanon, Wis. 
John, 1. Rochester, Minn. 
Benjamin, b. 1816; d. 1816. 

Norton F., b. April 18, 1818, Hopkinton; d. May 21, 
1903, at Potsdam, N. Y.; m. Lucy Chafiin, March 20, I 850; 
b. Holden, Mass.; d. September 11, i860; m. 2d, Sarah 
Flagg, September 12, 1861, Worcester, Mass.; d. September 
16, 1889. He is a wagon maker by trade, was foreman in 
large shop at East Brookfield, Mass., and Elizabethport, N.J. 
Bought a farm on Madrid road in 1865, and in 1895 sold it 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 579 

and moved into Potsdam village. He has taken a lively in- 
terest in the diary and furnishes this record. Had two chil- 
dren by each marriage: 

George, d. November 29, 1862, aged ten years. 
Jones W., d. December 9, 1862, aged three years. 
George A., b. December 7, 1862. 
Frank C, b. May 30, 1864; m. Belle Nesbitt; 1. 
Chicago, 111. 
Nathan W., b. August 15, 1821; d. Rochester, Minn., 

1897; m. Lydia E. Parker, Gouverneur. 
Nancy M., b. 1823 (Mrs. James Ablard); d. February 3, 

1885. 
Hannah Jane, b. in Clinton, 1825; d. 1825. 
Mary Jane, b. in Clinton, August 14, 1827 (Mrs. Ives 

Munroe); d. October 6, 1885. 
Henry M., b. May 28, 1829; m. Belle Phillips. 
JuUiette, b. 1835; d. Lee Centre, N. Y., 1846. 
Lois, m. Charles Weller in Pierrepont; m. 2d, Hiram Smith. Had 
nine children by first and one by second marriage: 
Philander, m. Cynthia Woodruff. 
Charles, m. Susan Gibson. 
Alonzo, m. Mary Preston. 
Eliza, m. Hiram Taylor. 
Clarissa, m. Turner Tilden. 
Laura, m. Alvin Woodruff. 
Amy, m. Lewis Waste. 
Melissa, m. Jason Gibson. 
Almyra, m. Hiram Smith. 
Norman Smith, m. Mary Gibson, Hopkinton, N. Y. 

HORACE TRAIN, b. 1784; d. 1880, Salem, Wis., aged ninety-six; 
m. Aritta Powers; m. 2d, Rhodina Woodworth; m. 3d, Mrs. Lydia Corn- 
stock; m. 4th, Mrs. Laveena Burritt, 1839; b. 1800; d. 1873, Hokah, 
Minn. According to Dr. Hough, he came to town in 1804 or 1805. His 
account with Mr. Hopkins did not open till 1807, though that with Robert 
Train did in 1 804. Horace took up a tract southeast of the village on what 
was called Independence Hill, where he lived till about 1830, when he moved 
to Stockholm, near the farm of E. O. Phelps. In about 1845 he moved to 
Wisconsin. Had one child by first and nine by second marriage; only nine 
given: 

Edson, d. in infancy. 

Horatio C, went to Wisconsin early, then to Kansas City; d. there; 
m. Had six children: 

Mary, Sue, Cora, Fred, Charles and Will. 
Harrison V., went to Wisconsin early, then to California, where he 

died. He married and was a minister. 
Phynandia, settled in Ohio, where she died. 



58o EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Abigail D., settled in Manston, Wis., where she died; m. Bliss D. 
Hitchcock. Had three children: 

Agnes, Eugene and Horatio. 
Rhodina B., m. O. C. Bundy, settled in Wisconsin, moved to Mon- 
tana in 1888, now living with niece, Mrs. Adah Train Fisk, at 
Helena. Mrs. Bundy is the only survivor and famished this record. 
Hamilton B., was a physician, lived in Hokah, Minn., where he 
died. Had two children: 

Clarence and Theresa. 
Pamelia, lived and died in New York. 

Kdgar H., was a miner in California, Oregon and Idaho; m. Phebe 
Goodell in Idaho City in 186;. Was a pioneer in Helena in 1866. 
He died there June i 1, 1899. Had two children: 

Adah, 1. Helena, Mont.; m. Emmett M. Fisk of Helena. 
Percy, m. Lena Dillard of Helena. 



AARON ^A^ARNER, b. April 2, 1782, Hartland, Conn.; d. February 
16, 1853; m. Edy Blanchard, 1805; b. December 9, 1787, Rutland, Vt.; 
d. April 4, 1868. A pioneer of March, 1803. The story has come down in 
the family that Mr. Warner and his intended went on horseback through the 
almost unbroken woods twenty-three miles to Madrid village to get married. 
His wife was a daughter of the pioneer, Amasa Blanchard. In the old ac- 
count book of Mr. Hopkins I find perfect confirmation of this tradition in a 
charge by Mr. Hopkins against Mr. Warner, May 14, 1805, for two horses 
and saddles to Madrid, $z. Mr. Warner was a fine man and highly re- 
spected. (See story of first settlers.) Had five children: 
Affa, b. February 27, 1806; d. May 10, 1830. 
Almira, b. July 8, 1807; d. March 18, 1887; single. 
^A/. Friend, b. July 27, 1808; d. June 29, 1880; m. Sarah Thomas, 
March 3, 1847; b. August 6, 1820; d. November 16, 1888, Nor- 
folk, N. Y. Had two children: 

Clark A., b. August 19, 1850; 1. Winthrop; m. Mattie H. 
Sheldon, August 27, 1884; b. October 24, i860. Had 
two children: 

Clayton, b. August 26, 1885. 
Royce J., b. June 6, 1891; d. January 2, 1892. 
Henry F., b. November 8, 1854; m. Ora I. Griswold, 
February 14, 1901 ; b. December 15, 1865. No issue. 
Elvira, b. July 8, 1816; d. October 4, 1831. 
Aaron Larned, b. August 4, 1826; d. March 25, 1900; m. 
Clarissa C. Witherell, December 30, 1849; b. December 15, 1829; 
1. Hopkinton. Had two children: 

C. Elvira, b. June 23, 1853; 1. Hopkinton, N. Y.; m. Ja- 
son J. Livermore, December 26, 1876; b. August 12, 1850, 
Lowell, Mass. 
Stephen L., b. May 10, 1857; m. Alice E. Allen, De- 
cember 31, 1879; b. March 8, 1861. Holds old home- 
stead. Had six children: 




ORMAN BEECH ER. 



CALEB WRIGHT, JR. 




A. LARNED WARNER. 



EZRA R. SHELDON. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 581 

Laura A., b. April 7, 1881; 1. Hopkinton; m. 
George Withercll, December 31, 1900; b. August 
26, 1865. Had one child: 

Philip H., b. May 24, 1902. 

Agnes J., b. August 13, 1882; 1. Shelton, Wash.; 
m. Charles Witherell, September 29, 1900; b. Feb- 
ruary 5, 1866. Had one child: 

Stephen R., b. February 2, 1902. 

Clara B., b. January 3, 1884; d. January 6, 1884. 

Russell A., b. February 11, 1885. 

Vesta D. E., b. February 25, 1887. 

Aaron F., b. December 31, 1894. 

CALEB WRIGHT, b. November 28, 1787, Weybridge, Vt.; d. 
November 14, 1839; m. Rosalinda Smith, February 15, 1813; b. February 
25, 1784, Cheshire, Mass.; d. August 8, i860. He was a son of Ebenezer 
Wright and Rebecca Staniard and was the eighth of thirteen children. His 
brother Asahel first took up the Risdon place in Hopkinton and went to Buck's 
Bridge, N. Y., in 1805, where he lived and died. Mr. Wright came to 
Hopkinton in 1 804 and worked for Mr. Hopkins pretty steadily for a few 
years, according to his account with Mr. Hopkins. He first selected the tract 
where Jonah Sanford, Jr., long resided and died. The only people in that 
locality were a mile distant through the woods on the Potsdam road, and they 
dissuaded him, telling him there would never be a road through there, and 
so he gave it up, taking a hundred acres on the north side of the " Potsdam 
road," where he built a log cabin and his first child was born. He then built 
a frame house across the road where the brick house now stands. That house 
is now the tenant's house and stands on the site of the old log house. 
Mr. Charles Gibson had taken the hundred acres on the south side of the 
road and made a little clearing where the brick house now stands. Mr. 
Wright soon bought his betterments when Gibson went over and took up 
the tract where Jonah Sanford, Jr., so long resided. He next purchased the 
betterments of John Harwood in the hundred acres next west of his first parcel, 
and also two hundred acres north of this and his original lot. In addition to 
these he purchased a tract and also a farm in Canton and several hundred acres 
in Stockholm at sixty-five cents an acre. He was a man of great industry 
and must have possessed fine business abilities, since in those arduous times he 
became well to do, the wealthiest man in town. Had five children: 

Catharine, b. May 14, 1815; d. July 9, 1875, Springfield, 111.; m. 

John W. Priest, September, 1853. No issue. 
Adaline, b. February 5, 1818; d. February 25, 1897; m. Joseph A. 

Brush, September 12, 1842. (See Brush record.) No issue. 
Caleb, b. April 27, 1820; d. November 20, 1900, at Libertyville, 

111.; m. Helen Chittenden, July 9, 1849; b. April 23, 1827; 1. 

Libertyville, 111. Was a farmer near Fort Jackson, merchant at that 

place with Franklin Kellogg, went to Waukegan in spring of 1867 or 

1868, where he remained two years, when he went to Libertyville. 

Had two children: 



^ 



58z EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Caleb F.,b. March 15, 1854; 1. Libertyville, 111. ; banker; 
m. Emma J. Price, March 19, 1877; b. March 8, 1854. 
Had seven children: 

Wirt, b. June 6, 1878; m. Addie Wiswell Stafford, 

October 15, 1901. 
Clark C, b. July 3, 1880. 
Roy F., b. March 24, 1882. 
William P., b. May 4, 1885. 
Helen A., b. May 7, 1887. 
George C, b. April 25, 1889. 
Robert M., b. April 22, 1893. 
George A., b. June I, 1856; I. Libertyville, 111.; m. May 
E. Willard, May 4, 1881; b. March 26, 1862. Had two 
children: 

Mattie H., b. April 23, 1882. 
Frank J., b. December 15, 1885. 
Louisa, b. October 11, 1822; d. August 14, 1823. 
George S., b. May 28, 1824; 1. Hopkinton, N. Y. ; m. Harriet M. 
Eastman, October 8, 1856; d. January 15, 1894. H'^ ^'^^ ^*^ ^ 
daughter of Lee Eastman. Mr. Wright keeps the old homestead. 
In 1857 he built a spacious and fine brick residence on the site of the 
frame house of his father. He has been one of the foremost men in 
town, holding several positions of trust, and also one of the most suc- 
cessful. At the age of seventy-nine he is vigorous of body for one of 
that age and as bright of mind as ever. He has been very kind and 
of considerable assistance on many points in the preparation of this 
volume. Had two children: 

Rosa L., b. March 21, 1859; 1. Hopkinton, N. Y. 
Mattie, b. June 24, 1862; d. January 24, 1876. 



SAMUEL WILSON, b. April 16, 1790, Keene, N. H.; d. March 
28, 1 88 1; m. Sally Blanchard, 1821; b. March 27, 1801; d. August 
14, I 88 1. He came to Hopkinton in 1808 or 1809 and worked in Roswell 
Hopkins's sawmill, and lived in his family for some years. He took title to 
the " Culver Corner " in i 8 1 6 and built a house and store there that year, as 
I learn from Mr. Kent's diary. It is also known that he built a dam and saw- 
mill at the East Village in 1817. An account of what he did there is given 
in the sketch of that village. He was a natural mechanic and millwright, 
which made him a man of great service and usefulness in those early times. 
He possessed remarkable ability in the matter of computations in his head, 
using no pen or pencil. One evening in Culver's store a wager of two dollars 
was made that he could not compute " in his head " in one hour's time the 
seconds in forty years, allowing three hundred and si.xty-five days and six 
hours for a year. The other gentlemen worked it out with pencil that they 
might know the correct number. Mr. Wilson accomplished the feat in fifty 
minutes and correctly, and won the money. He was a great man to be oc- 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 583 

cupied with his thoughts, forgetting all else. A good story is told of him as 
to this peculiarity which I heard only recently by a judge. The bridge at 
Nicholville had two tracks with a heavy timber on the outer ends of the 
plank and in the middle of the bridge to hold the plank in place. Going 
over one evening, occupied as usual, and about to meet a team, he stepped over 
the log, as he supposed, into the upper track, but, in fact, into the mill pond 
twenty feet below. The banks were high and it took some time to get him 
out. When they had, in response to a query how it happened, he replied, 
" Well, I thought I was in the lower track, but saw where I missed it as 
soon as I stepped over." This curt reply was so often told for years that it 
became a byword and is even still repeated. Had ten children: 

N. Maria, b. January 16, 1822; m. George Wilkins, July iz, 
1846; b. December 6, 1817, Stovve, Vt.; d. March 20, 1902; 1. 
Stowe, Vt. He stood well as a lawyer and held several political po- 
sitions and places of trust. Mrs. Wilkins attained much distinction 
as a teacher and even as a lecturer. She also wrote a history of 
Stowe, Vt., which was well commended. 
Hiram R., b. April 9, 1824; d. March 9, 1826. 
Hiram F., b. May 23, 1827; d. November 20, 1843. 
Harriet J., b. May 23, 1827; d. February 20, 1828. 
Edson J., b. March 4, 1829; d. September I, 1894, in Vallejo, 
Cal.; m. Helen M. Chandler, May i, 1851; b. May 2, 1830, 
Nicholville; d. September 25, 1892, Vallejo, Cal. He was post- 
master at Nicholville when twenty-one, built gang sawmill and starch 
factory. Went to California in 1856, where he was very successful; 
was president of the Vallejo Commercial Bank. On his death the 
Vallejo Chronicle spoke in the highest praise of him as a citizen and 
man. Had three children: 

George W., b. March I, 1852, Nicholville; 1. Vallejo, 
Cal.; m. Agnes McKnight, August 14, 1888; b. March 
25, 1866. Mr. Wilson is president of the Vallejo Com- 
mercial Bank. No issue. 
Carrie Louise, b. November l, i860, Vallejo; d. June 17, 

1861. 
Hattie, b. July 6, 1862, Vallejo; d. December 15, 1 90 1; 
m. William J. Tobin, b. September I, 1861; d. December 
9, 1896. Had two children: 

Albert Wilson, b. September 10, 1884. 
Helen Maria, b. November 28, 1886. 
Mary L. , b. November 9, 1831; d. September 9, 1856, at Stowe, 
Vt.; m. A. H. Slayton, September, 1855. Had one child: 
Daughter, d. aged five years. 
Friend W., b. February 28, 1834; 1. Weaverville, Cal.; m. Ella 
Hickok, April zo, 1876, at Nicholville; b. June 10, 1852. He 
went to California in 1856, one year on trip to China. Had three 
children: 



584 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Charles Samuel, b. August 16, 1877, Coveland, Wash. 
Earl Gray, b. September I, 1880, Nicholville; 1. Napa, Cal. 
Alice May, b. May 3, 1882, Nicholville; 1. Weaverville, 
Cal. 
Luman O., b. August 10, 1837; 1. Nicholville, N. Y. ; m. Florence 
Ferris, September 5, 1876; b. March 7, 1848. Had one child: 
Laura Emily, b. August 26, 1879; 1. St. Albans, Vt. 
Martha E., b. February 9, 1839; '^- December 9, 1839. 
Emily C, b. May 24, 1841; d. March 14, 1900, California; m. J. 
Henry Swift of Coupeville, Wash.; d. May, 1892. Mr. Swift 
was a sea captain of considerable note. Had five children: 

Hattie Wilson, b. June 9, 1872; 1. Coupeville, Wash.; 
m. T. Puget Race, August 2, 1890. Had two children: 
Henry Renald, b. November 29, 1891. 
William Puget, b. September 12, 1895. 
Maude Maria, b. September 18, 1876; 1. Worcester, 
Mass.; m. Henry C. Fullington, 1895. Had two children: 
Mary, b. 1896. 
B. Swift, b. 1900. 
Miles Standish, b. May 16, 1878; d. April, 1880. 
Mary Elizabeth, b. January 30, 1881; 1. Stowe, Vt. 
George Wilkins, b. August 29, 1882; I. Seattle, Wash. 



WILLIS WARRINER, b. New Hampshire, July 16, 1785; d. July 27, 
1881, aged ninety-six years; m. Nancy Armstrong, March 3, 1808; b. 
January 4, 1787; d. July 29, 1856. He came in by Northwest Bay road 
and settled on the first place south of Jacob Phelps in Hopkinton village in 
March, I 8 10. Had nine children: 

Elijah R., b. December 20, 1808; d. October 2, 1809. 
Elijah R., 2d, b. October 9, 1810; d. August 21, 181 i. 
Willis W., b. August 27, 181 2; d. Salem, Wis. 
Harriet W., b. February 20, I 81 5; d. March 7, 1856; m. Cham- 
pion I. Reeve, d. Salem, Wis. (See Erastus Reeve.) Mr. Elisha 
Risdon on giving up hunting gave his gun to Mr. Reeve. 
Mary Ann, b. August 25, 1819; d. September 7, 1856; m. Orville 

Kelsey, d. Webster City, Iowa. 
Mason C, b. July l, 1821; d. at Canton, N. Y. ; single. 
Hiram S., b. December l, 1823, P. O. North Stockholm, N. Y. ; 
m. Mary E. Goodell, d. December 24, 1898. (See Joel Good- 
ell.) 
John S., b. June 16, 1827; d. May 17, 1848. 
Henry L., b. August 27, 1833; d. September 13, 1847. 

DR. HENRY M. WITHERELL, b. August 12, 181 1; d. January 
24, 1869, Waukegan, 111.; m. Lucy Gile, January 4, 1837; d. 1896, 
Waukegan, 111. He was born at Leicester, Vt., and graduated in March, 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 585 

1835, from the University of Vermont as a physician. In 1837 he settled 
in Hopkinton, where he practised for nine years. His house and office were 
next east of Claris S. Chittenden's residence. He also owned the first farm 
up the " Peclc road" on the east side, which he sold to his brother, Thomas 
D., of Depeyster, N. Y. In late years it was and is now held by his 
nephew, Edwin, son of Stephen R. Nathan Peck, who married his sister 
Ruth, owned the farm next south of this. On Mr. Peck's death she married 
John Hoyt of Parish ville. In 1846 he went west by way of the lakes, 
settling at Waukegan, 111., where he became quite distinguished as a physician 
and surgeon. Had five children: 

Eugenia Evaline, b. November 21, 1837, Hopkinton; d. February 

I I, 1842. 
Cornelia, b. December 30, 1839; '• Windmere, 111.; m. Allen C. 
Story, August I, 1863. He was educated at Genesee College, 
N. Y., and at the University of Albany, and is a practising lawyer in 
Chicago. Had one child; 

Frederick W., b. November 26, 1864; m. Catherine 
Brazie, December 9, 1893. He was educated in the public 
schools of Chicago and at the Northwestern University, and 
is a member of the law firm of Story, Russell & Story, Chi- 
cago. Had two children: 

Myrtle Gile, b. February 12, 1887. 
Cecelia, b. October 4, 1900. 
Fern, b. December 11, 1841, Hopkinton; d. July 24, 1870, Wauke- 
gan; m. Dr. R. W. Clarkson of Waukegan in 1865. No issue. 
William Gile, b. September 15, 1844; 1. Windmere, 111.; m. 
Maria Bcattie, September 26, 1870; d. August 19, 1895. Had 
four children: 

William H., b. October 26, 1873; 1. Bisbee, Ariz. 
Allan J., b. June II, 1875; 1. Bisbee, Ariz. 
Harold B., b. August 12, 1878; 1. Bisbee, Ariz. 
Edith, b. March 10, 1884. 
Darwin, b. April 16, 1846; d. May 24, 1852, Waukegan. 



S.RUSSELLWITHERELL.b. April 17, 1799; d. August 12, 1878; 
m. Abigail Moon, d. January, 1882. He came from Shoreham, Vt., set- 
tled and Uved on north side of Turnpike, half mile west of Elisha Risdon. It 
has been impossible to get a full record of his family. Had five children: 

Clarissa, b. December 15, 1829; m. A. Lamed Warner. (See his 

family. ) 
Charlotte C, b. November 18, 1831; 1. Hopkinton; m. Seymour 

Clark. (Incomplete.) 
Henry E., b. July 31, 1835; 1. Hopkinton; m. Loisa Miller. He 
now holds the old homestead. Had three children: 



586 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Kdna, m. Willard Shonyo; 1. Hopkinton. 

George, b. August 26, 1865; m. Laura A. Warner, Decem- 
ber 31, I 900; 1. Hopkinton. Had one child: 
Philip H., b. May 24, 1902. 
Charles, b. February 5, 1866; 1. Shelton, Wash.; m. Agnes 
J. Warner, September 29, 1900. Had one child: 
Stephen R., b. February 2, 1902. 
George R., b. May 4, 1842; 1. in the west. 

Ellen E., b. May 5, 1849; 1. Hopkinton; m. William Hunter. 
Have a family. 



CORNELIUS WINNIE.b. January 8, 1790, Northumberland, N. Y. ; 
d. June, 1863; m. Sally Fitch in 1820; b. 1800, Salem, N. Y. ; d. 1879. 
Mr. Winnie enlisted in the War of 18 12 and took part in the engagement at 
Sackett's Harbor. He first settled at Orwell, Vt., removing to Hopkinton in 
1824, where he settled on Independence Hill. From there he afterwards 
moved to a farm near Fort Jackson, and from there to the house built by Ira 
Smith across the road from the Post place where he died. Had ten children: 
Catherine N., b. 1822; d. June 13, 1887; m. John C. Smith. 

(See Josiah Smith's record.) 
Jane E., b. 1824; d. June 23, 1861, Fort Edward; single. 
John C, b. 1827; 1. Connecticut; married. He enlisted August 6, 

1862, in Co. G, 1 06th Regiment, and served till close of the war. 
Mary C, b. 1830; 1. Fort Edward, N. Y.; m. Daniel M. Viele, 
d. June 15, 1886. Had four children: 

William C, b. June 29, 1856; m. Dora E. French, May 
29, 1883; d. October 18, 1885; m. 2d, Bertha U. Ames, 
January II, 1887. (Incomplete.) 
Edwin, b. May 30, 1859; d. September I, 1875, Fort Ed- 
ward. 
Emma, b. July 19, 1873; d. April 5, 1875. 
Estelle (adopted), b. 1879; m. Peter Bennett, 1897; 1. 
Fort Edward, N. Y. (Incomplete.) 
Melinda F., b. 1833; m. George W. Nash, September 11, 1856; 
1. Brasher Falls, N. Y. Mr. Nash enlisted August 6, 1862, in 
Co. G, 1 06th Regiment, and was mustered out at the close ot the 
war, July I, 1865. Had four children. (Incomplete.) 

Jennie, b. August 9, 1857; 1. Stockholm; m. Seth Weller. 
Homer G., b. November 7, 1859; 1. Watertown; m. Emma 

Schrier, 1887. 
Mary, b. July 6, 1861; 1. Groveland, Mass.; m. Hervey 

Parker, October 5, 1891. 
Frank, b. February 27, 1872; 1. Brasher Falls; m. 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 587 

Laura M., b. 1835; 1. Troy, N. Y.; m. Henry Kirkham; m. 2d, 
John Roberts, d. January 10, 1884. Mr. Kirkham was a member 
of the 60th Regiment Band. Mr. Roberts did an express and dray 
business in Troy. 

Fitch B., b. February 24, 1838; 1. Bennington, Vt.; m. Sarah A. 
Haynes, November 6, 1868. He enlisted August 7, 1862, in Co. 
G, 1 06th Regiment, but was rejected by the physician. He is now 
manager of American Registry Company for New York state. Had 
five children: 

George D., b. October 19, 1871; 1. Washington, D. C; 
m. Beatrice J. Rosenburg, December 23, i Sag, Canal Dover, 
Ohio. 

May R., b. July 27, 1873, Fort Edward; I. Bennington, Vt.; 

m. J. P. Dalzell, September 6, 1896. Had one son. 
Eva H., b. April 16, 1875, Fort Edward; 1. New Hartford, 

Conn. ; m. S. G. Goodwin. 
Emma, b. January 13, 1879, Hartford; d. 1879. 
Anna, b. January 13, 1 879, Hartford; d. 1879. 
Rodilla C, b. 1840; d. January 8, 1886; m. Martin Heath; m. 2d, 
Arch Durkee, d. Fort Edward. 

Artie C, b. 1843; d. 1876, Fort Edward; m. Charles Warner of 

Denver, Colo. 
Aaron, b. 1845; d. 1847. 



588 EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 

Assessment Roll. 

The following assessment roll of the real and personal 
property of the town of Hopkinton for the year 1850 was 
made by Nelson Crouch, Isaac R. Hopkins and James Parker, 
assessors : 



Names of Residents. 


Acres. 


Value. 


Names of Residcuts. 


Acres. 


Value. 


Abbott, Samuel B. . 


160 


^750 


Convers, Parker . 


150 


^350 


Andrews, Orin . 


70 


250 


Crouch, Nelson C. . 


265 


73° 


Andrews, Roswell . 


54 


75 


Conlin, John . 


36 


40 


Austin, Isaac . 


225 


700 


Capel, Henry C. 


50 


150 


Adams, Milo. . . 


8; 


170 


Covey, Thankful 


1 1 


140 


Ainsworth, Riley 


55 


55 


Conner, John 


66 


66 


Austin, Charles . 


120 


300 


Call, Nat. . . . 


I 


50 


Atwood, L. D. . . 


46 


150 


Cheney, Paul I. . . 


67 


67 


Ames, Peter . 


50 


25 


Cutler, Gilbert . . 


50 


3° 








Cutler, John . 


90 


125 


Brownell, Jasper . 


89 


220 


Cady, I. S. . . . 


162 


300 


Brownell, R. 


13 


•5 


Chandler, William . 


10 


20 


Brush, Eliphalet . 


150 


900 


Castle, Merriam . 


39 


40 


Brush, Jason . 


35 


280 


Chase, John . 


100 


75 


Brush, Joseph 


189 


975 


Cutler, Calvin 


54 


50 


Brush, Joseph A. 


287 


1 100 


Clough .... 


70 


70 


Blanchard, Isaac . 


90 


200 


Clough, Hiram & Edwarc 


50 


50 


Blanchard, Warren . 


•45 


300 


Cudworth, Ebenezer 


50 


25 


Blair, Alanson 


76 


76 


Claflin, Sylvanus 


5° 


25 


Blair, Charles 


65 


65 


Clark, Emeline . 


50 


50 


Blair, IVIartin 


20 


20 


Cotton, John 


40 


40 


Brown, Reuben . 


50 


125 


Culver, Zoraster 


^% 


600 


Brown, Philander 


47 


360 


Culver, Zoraster 


246 


866 


Brown, Harvey . 


190 


500 


Cutler, Darius 


30 


30 


Blake, Lewis . 


50 


75 


Crocket, George 


3 


50 


Blake, L. and Austin C. 


25 


25 








Blake, Henry 


21 


25 


Durfey, Joseph B. 


220 


750 


Brown, Silas . 


100 


350 


Dewey, Jared L. 


25 


25 


Benam, Peleg 


58 


60 


Dewey, William 


188 


250 


Brownell, Alvah . 


•7 


20 


Dewey, Jared 


70 


125 


Bryant, Benjamin 


36 


36 


Daggett, David . 


y^ 


100 


Bickford, Henry N. 


36 


36 


Dewey, Hubbell 


88 


100 


Belden, D. K. . . 


25 


30 


Daniels, Malvan 


75 


75 


Brown, Stoughton . 


50 


20 


Dewey, Roswell 


50 


50 


Crook, Samuel 


1 


75 


Eastman, Samuel 






Carpenter, Delany . 


37 


275 


Eastman, Lee 


225 


1225 


Campfield, Joseph 


27; 


900 


Eastman, William 


258 


1 300 


Chittenden, Clark S. 


660 


4200 


Eastman, Samuel, Jr. 


98 


300 


Chittenden, Solomon 


10 


225 


Eggleston, George . 


66 


600 


Chittenden, Chauncy 


25 


75 


Eggleston, Benjamin C. 


86 


250 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 



Names of Residents. 

Eggleston, George W. 
Eggleston, Sanford . 
Eggleston, Ambrose 
Eggleston, Harmon 

FinufF, Paul I. . 
Fisher, Alanson . 
Fletcher, Dan S. 
Fox, Thomas 
Freeman, Clark H. 
Faulkner, Charles 
Fisk, Charles A. 
Fling, Alfred 
Foster, John R. . 

Gillen, Michael . 
Goodell, Joel 
Goodell, Joel, Jr. 
Gilbert, Proctor . 
Gilbert, Wilder . 
Gibson, Charles 
Griggs, Guy 
Garland, Thomas 
Gray, Hardy 
Griffin 

Goodnow, Nathaniel 
Gould, Jacob T. 
Goodnow, Emerson 
Goodnow, Hiram 
Goodnow, Horace 
Grandy, Albert . 

Hamilton, William H 
Hamilton, Darwin F 
Hayden, Horace 
Herriman, Adna 
Herriman, Walter 
Herriman, Thomas 
Hopkins, Isaac R. 
Hopkins, Fred I. 
Hopkins, Mary . 
Hubbard, Harvey 
Henderson, David 
Hyde, Ezra . 
Harran, Alfred, Sr. 
Hodgkins, George R, 
Hoyt, Chandler . 
Hancock, Jeremiah 



63 
34 



Value. 

$250 
250 
100 
150 



50 


175 


100 


500 


150 


300 


20 


20 


3 


200 


J15 


•75 


50 


100 


1 10 


300 


I 


125 


36 


36 


218 


'55° 



40 

10 
33 
50 
50 
55 
4 
100 

50 

52 
50 
40 

5z 
37 
36 

I z 

50 



3 
150 

^^% 
78 

87 

70 



50 

10 
100 

25 
50 
80 

200 
500 

50 

5z 
50 
40 

100 

100 

70 

1 z 

50 

20 

950 

350 
250 

50 
900 
300 

234 
100 

175 
70 



Names of Residenl 

Hoyt, Daniel 
Howe, T. L. 
Howe, Seymour 
Hill, Reuben . 

Jennie, Ezekiel 
Jennie, Asahel 
Johnson, Betsey 

Kent, Darius E. 
Kent, Artemas . 
Kent, Asahel 
Kent, Lucian 
Kellogg, Franklin 
Kellogg & Wright 
Knapp, George . 
Kennedy, Hugh . 
Kennedy, Jacob . 
Kendrick, David 
Kimball, George . 

Lawrence, Ruel . 
Lawrence, Lorenzo 
Linindoll, Jacob . 
Linindoll, lona . 
Leach, David 
Laughlin, T. H. 
Laughlin, T. H. 
Lindsay, Hiram . 
Lindsay, Henry . 
Lovell, I. P. . 
Lyman, L. 
Landon, Edward 

Merrill, S. B. . 
Merrill, Dyer L. 
Moses, William . 
Moon, Hannah . 
Moon, Jesse 
Mosher, Philip . 
Mosher, Alvan . 
McArthur, Noble 
Meacham, Thomas 
Morgan, S. T. . 
Mason, Hiram . 
Mains, Thomas . 

Newton, Hiram . 
Newton, Hubbard 



52>4 
48 

50 

63 
59 



f62 

228 

104 

100 

9 

3 

60 

50 
2 

35 

77 

26 

75 

15 

85 

263 

4 
50 
5' 
60 



50 
52 



66 



60 

54 



Value. 
$20 

375 
100 

40 

200 
75 
50 

615 

1300 
900 
500 
250 
200 
60 

■^5 
100 

35 
100 

300 

50 

'75 

30 

'75 

1250 

200 

125 

100 

100 



4 '50 

I 50 

izo 145 

343 '250 

70 280 

50 150 



670 
250 
50 
50 
'5 
66 



590 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 



Names of Residents. 

Newton, William 
Nay, William A. 
Newman, John 
Niles, Charles 
Neal, John 

Oliver, William 
Oliver, Lyman 
Ober, Elijah 

Peck, Julius . 
Peck, Orlin A. 
Post, Elias . 
Post, Noah . 
Putnam, Seth 
Putnam, Seth R. 
Phelps, WiUiam S. 
Phelps, Jesse 
Potter, Anson 
Parker, Francis 
Phillips, Israel 
Parker, Patrick 
Parker, Solon C 
Packard, Fayette 
Pulsifer, Ansel 
Priest, Francis 



Remington, Aurelius 
Risdon, Elisha 
Risdon, E. Harmon 
Remington, S. C. 
Roberts, John S. 
Roberts, Eli . 
Roberts, Ephraim 
Ransom, Stephen 
Richardson, William 
Richardson, Lewis 
Ring, William 8. 
Robson, William 



Squire, 
Squire, 
Squire, 
Squire, 
Squire, 
Squire, 
Smith, 
Smith, 
Smith, 



Asa . 
Ira . 
Eben . 
Russell 
Levi . 
Abner 
Josiah . 
Elisaph 
Joseph 



50 

27 
95 
51 



Value. 

S300 

300 

200 

100 

50 

75 
175 
100 



179 


500 


130 


250 


88 


400 


2 


5° 


125 


500 


100 


300 


357 


1 200 


n 


77 


42 


50 


174 


330 


'59 


200 


70 


125 



57 

75 

78 

251 

203 

208 

49 

67 

2 

82 

89 

27 
100 

50 

160 

80 

60 

I 

200 

264 



125 
78 
950 
650 
600 
90 

525 
100 
140 
90 
150 
100 

150 
650 

300 
300 

25 
Z25 
850 

48 
550 



Names of Residents. 

Smith, A. T. . 
Smith, James . 
Snell, Isaac . 
Sprague, Dr. Gideon 
Stone, Thomas . 
Sheldon, Gains . 
Sheldon, Asa . 
Sheldon, A. C. . 
Sheldon, Albert . 
Sheldon, Hiram B. 
Sheldon, John 
Sheldon, Esther . 
Sheldon, Ezra R. 
Stoddard, A. 
Swett, Thomas . 
Stevens, Elander 
Stevens, L. L. 
Stevens, David 
Shonyo, Antoine 
Sherman, Elkanah 
Sherman, Joseph 
Sherman, William 
Shaw, I. F. . . 
Sanford, Jonah 
Sanford, Jonah, nine 

eels of . 
Sanford, Jonah, Jr. 
Sanford, S. S. 
Simpson, Maywell 
Simpson, George W 
Sanborn, Edmond 

Turner, Stephen 
Turner, Leander 
Tucker, Zebra . 
Tupper, Ezra 

White, George . 
Wilcox, Joseph L. 
Warner, Aaron . 
Warner, Aaron L. 
Warner, W. F. . 
Witherell, Nelson 
WithereU, S. R. 
Witherell, Joel . 
Wilson, Samuel . 
Wilson, T. N. . 
Wilson, Hezekiah 



par 



72 
80 

100 
•3 
85 

140 



87 
15 
80 

50 
188 

25 
129 

% 
51 
45 
52 

29 
80 
20 

25 
124 

544 
450 

32 
144 

57 
100 



150 

300 
460 

85 
500 

350 
125 

45° 
225 
400 
225 
625 

75 
400 
100 
5J 
50 
52 
29 
80 
20 

25 
1 100 



1493 
800 

32 
144 

57 
100 



I JO 



52 


52 


33 


33 


75 


75 


40 


40 


135 


750 


70 


250 


88 


45° 


100 


200 


68 


300 


140 


600 


I 


100 


2 


30 


100 


250 



EARLY HISTORY OF HOPKINTON. 



591 





No. of 






No, of 




Names of Residents. 


Acres. 


Value. 


Names of Residents. 


Acres. 


Value. 


Wells, Reuben . . 


129 


Jt56o 


Wilkinson, 'widow . 


18 


§36 


Wright, Rosalinda . 


470 


1600 


Winnie, Cornelius . 


% 


25 


Wright, Caleb . . 


I 2 


80 


Wood, Josephus . 


75 


125 


White, Lewis 


47 


50 


Weeks, Lyman, Jr. . 


100 


75 


White, Nelson . . 


y^ 


5° 


WoodrufF, WilHam . 


60 


75 


Waller, Lyman . 


52 


50 


Ward, George R. . 


60 


90 


Weller, Charles B. . 


90 


125 


Ward, Henry 


7 


20 


Weller, Philander . 


Z23 


225 


Wadsworth, Henry . 


60 


60 


Welch, Johnson . 


35 


35 


Wart, Frederick . . 


60 


60 



Only the following 
Eliphalet Brush, |ioo; 
$300 ; Lee Eastman, 
Aaron Warner, $200. 
caped as there are now. 
pie were still struggling 
to forty years previous 
also a little surprising. 



persons were assessed personal : viz., 

George Brush, $50 ; Samuel Eastman, 

$600 ; Darius E. Kent, $500 ; and 

Evidently there were some who es- 

Judging by this assessment the peo- 

, though nothing like as poor as thirty 

The low assessment of the farms is 



INDEX 



Abbott, Emory W., family of, 428. 

Abbott, Jonathan B., property of, 167, 
170 ; death of, 401. 

Abbott, Philo, family of, 432. 

Abbott, Reuben, death of wife, 393; son 
liobert S., 393. 

Abbott, Samuel, elector, 144a. 

Abbott, Samuel B., farm of, 96 ; elector, 
144a; property of, 167, 172, 588; lost 
while hunting, 289; family of, 433. 

Abbott, Seth, settlement, 39, 43 ; elector, 
57, 1 44« ; built bridge, 62 ; farm of, 93 j 
his signature, 129; property of, 167; 
death of wife and babe, 265 ; death of, 
378 ; family of, 427. 

Adsit, Harriet, story of her father's 
log house, 96 ; keeps house for Elisha 
Risdon, 3S5 ; sole survivor of children 
of Samuel Abbott, 393. 

Advent of white men, 8. 

Ainsworth, Reuben, 119. 

Allen, Elisha, elector, 57 ; property of, 
167, 171. 

Andrews, Orin, farm of, 110; death of 
wife, 364 ; family of, 525 , property of, 
S88. 

Armstrong, Chester, elector, 167 ; settle- 
ment of, 171. 

Armstrong, Jasper, settlement, 39, 118; 
elector, 57, 144(2; farm of, 84; prop- 
erty of, 167. 

Arquit, Michael, elector, 167. 

Assessments of 1807, 57 ; of 1821, 144a ; 
of 1821, 167 ;of 1850, 5S8. 

Assessors of town, 405. 

Atwood, L. D., family, 517 ; property of, 
588. 

Atwood, Mrs. Paulina S., old dam of 
1803, 33. 

Austin, Isaac, 180. 

Austin, Phineas, family of, 429. 

Axe, musket and Bible, work of, 15. 



B 

Bachellor, Eason, farm of, 98 ; family 

of, 447. 
Baldwin, Amos A., family of, 443. 
Baldwin, Nathaniel,farm of, 114 ; elector, 
144a ; property of, 167 ; family of, 440. 
Baldwin, Nathaniel, Jr., builds sawmill, 

371- 
Baptist Church of Hopkinton, 183; at 

Nicholville, 247. 
Barter and e,\change, 146. 
Bastin, Joseph, elector, 144a. 
Bastin, Daniel C, elector, I44« ; property 

of, 167, 202. 
Beecher, Orman, family of, 569. 
Bellamy, Abner, elector, 144a. 
Bellows, Lewis, family of, 573. 
Bible, work of, 15. 
Black salts, manufacture of, 146. 
Black tongue, 301 ; black leg, 312. 
Blair, Ezekiel, death of, 351. 
Blanchard, Amasa, Sr., settlement in 
town, 26, 39 ; account,'4i ; elector, 57, 
I44n ; assisted in building bridge, 62 ; 
hunting with Mr. Risdon, 65 ; farm of, 
8i ; signature of, 130 ; property of, 167; 
family of, 437. 
Blanchard, Amasa, Jr., elector, 144a; 

family of, 437. 
Bostwick, J. H., family, 541. 
Bowles, Rev. Charles, story of, 304 ; gives 

notice of protracted meeting, 310. 
Bread, how got at first, 14. 
Breaking roads, 294. 
Brlnsmaid, Jas., elector, 144a. 
British soldiers capture flour, 88. 
Brooks, Mrs. Erasmus D., capers in 
school, 113; taught school, 116; mar- 
riage of, 363 ; family of, 563. 
Brooks, Hosea, 102; property of, 167; 

settlement of, in Hopkinton, 300. 
Brown, Harvey, family of, 530; property 
of, 588. 



594 



INDEX. 



Brown, Reuben, shop of, 233 ; property 
of, 58S. 

Brownell, Clark, family of, 557.' 

Brownell, Joseph, 106. 

Brush, Colonel Alexander, death of, 275. 

Brush, Charles H., old guns of, opp. 7 ; 
tintype of old hall, 126; one of com- 
mittee for rebuilding church, 141. 

Brush, Eliphalet, came to town in 1802, 
14 ; baked bread, 14 ; began work, 38 ; 
elector, 57, 144a; when he came, 70 ; 
letters to, by Mr. Risdon, 70 ; farm of, 
81 ; signature of, 131 ; family of, 435 ; 
property of, 167, 588. 

Brush, Jason,"pictureof house, opp. 79; 
picture of lake, opp. 352 ; family of, 
436 ; assessment of, in 1850, 588. 

Brush, Joseph, settlement, 39 ; farm of, 
81; his signature, 129; property of, 
167 ; family of, 440. 

Brush, Joseph A., on committee to make 
alterations in church, 139; family of, 
440; assessment of 1850, 588. 

Brush, William, settlement, 39 ; account 
with, 41 ; elector, 57, 144a ; farm of, 81 ; 
property of, 167. 

Buckingham, E., elector, 57. 

Building of old Town Room, 126. 

Burchard, Rev. Jedediah, sketch of, and 
his preaching, 359 ; meat for, 361. 

Burnham, Sanford L., family of, 527. 

Burt, Enos, 220. 

Burying ground, first and present, 123. 

Bush, Eli, elector, 167 ; settlement, 171. 

Bushnell, Simeon, settlement, 39, 171, 
202 ; property of, 167. 



Carding mill, 226. 

Cemetery grounds, 123; at Nicliolville, 

261. 
Census of 1807, 57; of 1814, 1440; of 

1821, 167 ; comments on, 172 ; of 1835, 

i73;of 1850, 58S. 
Chandler, Abijah, settlement of, 39, 202 ; 

elector, 57, 144a; signature of, 130; 

property of, 167 ; family of, 444. 
Chandler, Abijah, Jr., property of, 167 ; 

had sawmill, 170. 



Chandler, Harry, property of, 167 ; family 
of, 452. 

Chandler, Hiram, family of, 454. 

Chandler, Lemuel, 450. 

Chandler, Lewis, family of, 454. 

Chandler, Philo C, family of, 453. 

Chandler, Samuel, 167. 

Chittenden, Asahel IL, farm of, 118; 
capsized in Lake Ozonia, 351. 

Chittenden, Clark S., storeof, 87 ; ashery, 
170; postmaster, '173 ; family of, 464; 
property of, 588. 

Chittenden, Chauncey, had farm, 179; 
family of, 462 ; property of, 588. 

Chittenden, Jay IL, postmaster, 174. 

Chittenden, King S., recollection as to 
Harran house, 83 ; picture of house, 
opp. 86 ; built store, 88 ; on committee 
to build church, 139; experience with 
tow pants, 154 ; postmaster, 173. 

Chittenden, Mrs. Mary, washing at brook, 
308; spinning, 320; good girl, 324 ; 
attends Potsdam Academy, 326 ; mar- 
ries, 332 ; children baptized, 385 ; fam- 
ily of, 465. 

Chittenden, Solomon, family of, 462 ; 
property of, 588. 

Chittenden, Varick A., picture of house, 
opp. 86 ; record of old Town Room, 
127; on committee to rebuild church, 
141 ; postmaster, 174. 

Chapman House, burned, 317. 

Christians, The, 326, 327. 

Chubb, Joseph, elector, 144a. 

Church, Baptist, 183. 

Church, Congregational, story of, 136; 
pastors of, 141 ; poverty of, 142 ; disci- 
pline of members, 143. 

Church, Methodist, 182. 

Church, Roman Catholic, 144. 

Church, Universalist, 185 ; at Nicholville, 
257. 

Citizens of 1807, 57 ; of 1814, 144^; of 
1821, 167; of 1850, 588. 

Clark, Orange B., family of, 217. 

Clark, Ralsey, family of, 220. 

Clemonds, Joseph, 167. 

Clifford, Martin L., postmaster, 174. 

Cloth, making of, 149; quantity of, 173. 



INDEX. 



595 



Collectors of town, 404. 

Commissioners of schools, 407 ; commis- 
sioners of highways, 40S. 

Constables of town, 409. 

Converse, Calvin, 167, 171. 

Cook, Ivory, 167, 171. 

Cook stove, story of, 314. 

Coolidge, Isaiah, property of, 167. 

Coolidge, Zebina, great memory, 23, 26 ; 
settlement of Fort Jackson, 178 ; fam- 
ily of, 543. 

Corwin, Mr. and Mrs. FiiUom M., story 
of Turnpike, 102; home of, 113; 
school at " Sanford's," 1 16. 

Covey, Cautius C, 298, 311, 323 ; family 
of, 459. 

Covey, David, farm of, 97; elector, 144a, 
property of, 167 ; death of wife, 296; 
death and sketch of, 340 jfamily of, 457. 

Covey, Gilbert, family of, 457. 

Covey, Martin, location of, 85 ; property 
of, 167 ; residence of, iSo. 

Crosley, Mrs. George W., teaches, 103 ; 
tribute to, 369 ; sketch and family of, 

523- 

Grossman, Rufus M., family, 540. 

Crouch, Nelson C, buys Post place, 373; 
family of, 462 ; property of, 588. 

Culver, Zoraster, picture house, opp. 78 ; 
location of, 87 ; ashery, 170 ; postmas- 
ter, 173 ; store of, 232 ; family of, 467; 
property of, 588. 

Currie, Frank L., family of, 524. 

Curtis, John, 167, 171. 

Cutler, John, family of, 105. 

Cutler, Josiah, death of, 387. 

Cutler, Varick A., postmaster, 174. 

Cutter, Dr. F. A., 162. 



D 

Daggett, David, in trade, 87 ; family of, 

492. 
Davis, Francis, built gristmill, iSi. 
Day, Lyman, 209 ; store of, 234. 
Day, Thomas, property of, 167, 171; 

family of, 20S. 
Dayton. Dr. David, 162. 
Death, first, 124. J 



Deer hunting, 59, 68 ; killed by Mr. Ris- 
don, 402. 

Dewey, Jared, came to town, 8 ; cutting 
first tree, 12; elector, 57, 144a ; farm, 
81 ; property of, 167, 588 ; family of, 
468. 

Dewey, William, oldest child of pio- 
neers, 48 ; property of, 588. 

Distillery, 227. 

Durfey, Joseph, settlement, 39; farm of, 
97; signature of, 131; elector, 144a; 
property of, 167 ; family of, 470. 

Durfey, Joseph B., family of, 470 ; prop- 
erty of, 588. 

Durfey, Phineas, settlement, 39 ; ac- 
count, 43; elector, 57, 144a; interest- 
ing letter to, by Mr. Risdon, 60; built 
bridge, 62 ; farm of, 95 ; signature 
of, 130; property of, 167 ; family of, 469. 

Durfey, William S., property of, 167. 

Durrell, Asa, tannery of, 157. 



Eastman, George L., soldier in Civil 
War, 191. 

Eastman, Lee, farm of, 117 ; family of, 
479; property of, 588. 

Eastman, Roswell H., tannery of, 159. 

Eastman, Samuel, settlement of, 39, 44 ; 
elector, 57, 144^ ; farm of, 95 ; signa- 
ture of, 130; property of, 167; raises 
house, 274; hurt by bull, 311 ; family 
of, 474. 

Eastman, Samuel, Jr., family of, 478. 

Eastman, William E., family of, 483 ; 
property of, 5S8. 

East Village, history of, 224. 

Eggleston, Benjamin C, property of, 5S8. 

Eggleston, George, property of, 588. 

Eggleston, George W., property of, 588. 

Elections, intoxication at, 375. 

Electors in 1807, 57. 

EUithorpe, Danforth, family of, 219; 
sawmill of, 241. 

EUithorpe, Thurman D., 219; store of, 
238. 

Erwin, Henry A., family of, 555. ^ 

Essays of Elisha Risdon, 59. 



596 



INDEX. 



Farrar, Otis, family of, 455. 

Fireplace, picture of, opp. 46, 47. 

First child born, 28. 

First gristmill, also sawmill, 30. 

First settlers, names of, 20. 

First tree cut in town, 11. 

First white woman in town, 24. 

Fislc, Charles A., store of, 237. 

Fisk, David, 104. 

Flanders, Samuel, family of, 469. 

Flax, manufacture of, 149. 

Flood, Dr. J. Q., 162; postmaster, 173. 

Flour taken by British soldiers, 88, 270. 

Flummerfelt, Mrs. Alice, a handsome 

girl, 97- 
Fort Jackson, history of, 177 ; freshet at, 

180; fire at, 181 ; men in business at, 

182; postmasters and physicians, 186. 
Fortune, Dr. William E., 247. 
Freeman, Captain R. H., farm of, in ; 

family of, 526. 
French, David, settlement, 39 ; farm of, 

1 10. 
Frost, Charles, family of, 484. 
Frost, Ebenezer, shop of, 86; story of, 

276 ; family of, 483. 
Frost, Francis T., family of, 485. 
Frost, George, family of, 484. 
Frost, James T., family of, 484. 
Frost, William, family of, 485. 
Fuller, Gibbs, elector, 57. 
Fuller, Jabez F., family, 541. 



Gibson, Charles, settlement, 116; signa- 
ture of, 131 ; elector, 144a. 

Gold, digging for, under a spell, 106. 

Goodell, Layton B., family of, 4S7. 

Goodell, Samuel and Joel, account of 
settlement in town, 9; cutting of first 
tree, 11 ; first cabins of, 14; account 
with Mr. Hopkins, 41 ; electors, 57, 
144a; story of coming to town, 78, 
79; signature of Joel Goodell, 130; 
property of, 167, 588; Samuel a pris- 
oner, 271 ; raised house, 274 ; family of 
Joel, 485; Samuel, 487. 

Goodell, Joel, Jr., family of, 486. 



Goodnow, Charles K., family of, 505. 
Goodnow, Nathaniel B., tannery of, 158 ; 

family of, 504 ; property of, 589. 
Gould, Jacob T., farm of, 116, 5S8. 
Gould, Jeremiah, 168. 
Gould, Joel, elector, 1440 ; property of, 

167 ; family of, 528. 
Gould, John, built steeple, 140. 

Gray, Ileman, elector, 144/1; death of, 
272 ; family of, 447. 

Greene, Henry C, farm of, 102 ; prop- 
erty of, 167 ; family of, 492. 

Greene, Job, settlement, 39 ; elector, 57 ; 
farm of, 100. 

Greene, Meribah, marriage of, 343. 

Greene, Rufus, farm of, 104 ; death of, 
392. 

Griflin, Asahel, elector, 144.;. 

Gristmill, first built in town, 30, 55 ; at 
Nicholville, 228; in Hopkinton vil- 
lage, story of, 275. 

Guns from arsenal, 266 ; old picture of, 
opp. 7 ; roaring of, 321. 

H 

Hamilton, Aaron J., family of, 505. 
Harran, Albert S., farm of, 104. 
Harran, John A., capture of flour, 88 ; 

story of Turnpike road, 102 ; shooting 

of Mr. Seeley, 396 ; death of, 398. 
Harris, Samuel, settlement of, 39, 204 ; 

elector, 57; property of, 168, 171; 

family of, 204. 
Hart, John, farm of, 109. 
Harwood, Benjamin, settlement, 39 ; left 

town, 40 ; farm of, 95. 
Harwood, Jonas, settlement, 39 ; elector, 

57- 
Haselton, Moses, early settler, 179. 
Hawley, S., drowned, 368. 
Hay twenty dollars per ton, 279. 
Henderson, Mrs. Alta, first female child, 

28. 

Henderson, Chester F., property of, i68. 
Henderson, David, farm of, 82 ; elector, 
I44rt ; family of, 49S; property of, 589. 
Henderson, David F., family of, 500. 
Henderson, John, lot of, 89; property of, 

168 ; death of, 401 ; family of, 499. 



INDEX. 



597 



Henderson, J. Henry, Sheldon magazine, 
29 ; account of storm, 306 ; family of, 
499- 

Higgins, Dwight Noble, 212. 

Higgins, Horace, family of, 2n. 

Hine, Daniel, Jr., farm of, 85. 

Hoard, Daniel, distillery burns, 292. 

Hobart, E. N., farm of, 106. 

Hodgkins, Charles H., soldier in Civil 
War, 192. 

Hoit, John, settlement, 39 ; elector, 57, 
unable to locate, 99 ; death of wife, 
370. 

Hopkins, Aaron T., family of, 481. 

Hopkins, Benjamin W., partnership with 
father, 54 ; elector, 57, 144a ; contract 
in Alabama, 125; death of, 285 ; family 
of, 495. 

Hopkins, Isaac K., signature of, 128; 
scribe, 134 ; elector, 144a ; property of, 
168, 588; built sawmill, 177; family, 
496. 

Hopkins, Isaac R., great-grandson, maps 
and records preserved, 32, 37 ; lead 
plate, 134; credit to, see Preface. 

Hopkins, James G., family of, 49S. 

Hopkins, Roswell, founder of town, in- 
scription on tombstone, 8 ; sale of 
land to Goodell boys, 9 ; specie lost in 
river, 13; tract purchased, 17 ; early 
struggles, 18; old account book, 37 ; 
exceedingly great historic value, 44 ; 
first justice of the peace, 52 ; partner- 
ship with Benjamin \V., 54 ; elector, 
57, 1440; built bridge, 62 ; house dis- 
tant from ford, 64 ; location of, 83, 90 ; 
business troubles, 124; signature of, 
131; builds town hall, 134; property 
of, 16S ; sawmill of, 170; makes draft 
of soldiers, 266 ; begins gristmill in 
village, 275; plate in corner stone of 
schoolhouse, 276; death of wife, 279 ; 
land sold at auction, 293 ; family of, 

493- 
Hopkins, Roswell D., family of, 494. 
Hopkinton, map of, 16; town of, 49 ; act 

creating, 50 ; part of Chesterfield 

taken, 51; first town meeting, 52; 

soldiers from, 187; thirty-two guns 



from arsenal, 2C6 ; soldiers pass 

through, 269, 270; British capture 

flour, 270. 
Hornby, John, death of, 327. 
Hosford, Joel, tannery of, 156. 
Hotels in Hopkinton, 160 ; picture of, 87 ; 

the first at Nicholville, 226 ; burned, 

399- 
Hough, Franklin B., history of town, i, 

8, 12, 20, 31, 37, 75, 88, 201. 
Howard, Dr. Orlando I., family of, 528. 
Howard, William Curtis, family of, 535. 
Humphrey, Carlos, shop of, 178. 
Humphrey, William M., shop of, 97; 

goes west, 305. 
Hunting camp, Mr. Risdon revisits, 341. 
Hunting trip to Cookham, 65. 
Hutchins, Dr. O. E., 162. 

I 

Indians hunt on Mr. Risdon's ground, 

289 ; drunken, call at his house, 302. 
Ingalls, John W., family of, 481. 
Inspectors of elections, 410. 
Islington, township of, 17. 
Ives, Warren J., family of, 505. 



Jennie, Asahel, family of, 501. 

Jennie, Ezekiel, family of, 500. 

Johnson, Rev. Hiram S., first minister, 
'32, 137, 141. 143 ; farm of, 85 ; signa- 
ture of,- 1 28 ; resignation of, 142 ; prop- 
erty of, 1 68. 

Justices of the peace, 52, 406. 

K 

Kelley, Daniel, family of, 474. 

Kellogg, Franklin, postmaster, 174; 
built store, etc., 181 ; family of, 572. 

Kennedy, Hugh, property of, 168; resi- 
dence, 180. 

Kent, Asahel, farm of, loi ; elector, 144a ; 
property of, 168; in 1850, 589; family 
of, 503. 

Kent, Artemas, home of, 89 ; farm of, 
99; signature of, 129; property of, 
168 ; in 1850, 589 ; diary of, 265, 278 ; 
raised house, 281 ; family of, 501. 



598 



INDEX. 



Kent, Darius E., very successful in busi- 
ness, III ; family of, 507 ; property of, 
589. 

Kent, Fred H., old Town Room, 126; 
diary of father, 265 ; sketch, 502. 

Kent, Henry B., family of, 502. 

Kent, Lucian, farm of, 113; family of, 
507 ; property of, in 1850, 589. 

Kent, Moses, Jr., family of, 507. 

Kent, William, family of, 505. 

Knapp, Ephraim, elector, 144a. 

Knowlton, J. H., mills of, 229, 241. 



Lake Ozonia, 352. 

Landon, Mrs. Caroline M., old dam, 33. 

Landon, Daniel B., family of, 517. 

Langworthy, Dr. Stephen, settlement, 
39; elector, 57. 

Laughlin, Dr. Henry D., 162 ; leaves 
Hopkinton, 322. 

Laughlin, Thaddeus, elector, 144a ; 
property of , 1 68 ; in 1 850, 589 ; postmas- 
ter, 173 ; death of, 387 ; family of, 508. 

Lavery, John, family of, 528. 

Lawrence, Dr. Noah D., 244. 

Lawrence, Ruel, 315; family of, 509; 
property of, 589. 

Lawrence, town of, settlement, 201. 

Leach, John, story of Goodells' settle- 
ment, 9 ; old gristmill dam, 56; farm 
of, 104. 

Leach, Silas H., family of, 486. 

Lead plate in corner stone, 134. 

Leonard, Rufus, property of, 168. 

Leonard, Samuel R., family of, 534. 

Lewis, Lemuel, settlement, 107. 

License or no license for retailing liquor, 
386. 

Life, what its purpose, 91. 

Liquor, objects to, 308. 

" Little Band," 336, 392. 

Log cabins, first homes, 7. 

Loss of money in river, 12. 

Lyd Brook, naming of, 38. 

M 

Macomber, J. H., postmaster, 174, fam- 
ily of, 532. 



Making of cloth, 149. 

Markets of pioneers, 145; no money 

market for grain, 3S6. 
Martin, Andrew, elector, 57, 144a. 
Martin, Ephraim, elector, 57, 144a. 
Massey, Silas, elector, 144a. 
Matthews, Dr. H. J., 246. 
Maynard, Levi, family of, 429. 
McLaughlin, Henry, settlement, 39; 

account, 42; elector, 57; location, 80; 

hotel of, 160 ; death of, 268. 
Meacham, Stephen, sad life of, 165; 

property of, 168, 402. 
Meacham, Thomas, great hunter, 401. 
Meacham, Thomas, Jr., property of, 168. 
Mead's, Mr., dog, 166. 
Merrill, Dyer L., location, 114; store, 

237 ; family of, 513; property of, 589. 
Merrill, Joseph, elector, 144s. 
Merrill, Judson, elector, 144a. 
Merrill, Silas W., merchant, family of, 

513- 
Methodist Church at Fort Jackson, 182 ; 

at Nicholville, 254. 
Mice plenty, 320. 
Military drill, 354. 
Miller, Calvin, postmaster, 174. 
Miller, Wm., elector, 144a. 
Money lost in river, 13 ; scarcity of, 146 ; 

not current, 362. 
Moon, Asa, farm of, 116; property of, 

16S; death of, 368; family of, 510. 
Moon, Barney, : 05, 1 1 7 ; property of, 1 68. 
Moon, Elias, death of, 311. 
Moon, Henry G., family of, 512. 
Moon, Jesse, 105, 116. 
Moon, Orange B., family of, 511. 
Moore, Bushnell B., tannery of, 157. 
Moore, James R., family of, 518. 
Mormons in town, work of, 162. 
Mosher, Philip, farm of, 92 ; property of, 

168 ; family of, 471. 
Murder of girl, 366. 
Musket, work of, 15. 

N 

Nay, Benjamin F., family of, 519. 
Newspapers of Potsdam and Canton 
burned, 2. 



INDEX. 



599 



Newton, Asa, death of, 369. 
Newton, Samuel S., property of, 1C8. 
Nichols, Andrew, elector, I44«. 
Nichols, Josiah, elector, 1440. 
Nichols, Rufus, elector, 1443. 
Nicholville, history of, 224 ; sawmills, 

225, 241 ; carding mill, 226 ; hotels, 

226, 240; distillery, 227; gristmill, 
228 ; freshet, 230 ; stores at, 232 ; tan- 
neries, 241 ; postmasters, 242 ; Day's 
mills, 243 ; physicians, 244 ; churches 
at, 247 ; lodges and societies, 258. 

Nineteenth century, things accomplished 

in, 46. 
Northern Railroad, building of, 379. 

o 

Ober, A. E., postmaster at Fort Jackson, 
174. 

Officials, first, 53; from 1806-1902, 404. 

Ogdensburg taken by British, 268. 

Oliver, Lyman, farm of, 109. 

Olmstead, C. S., 236. 

Original pioneers, 8. 

Organization of town, 49. 

Overseers of the poor, 409 ; of high- 
ways, 411. 

Ozonia Lake, 353. 

P 

I'age, Lyman, built red schoolhouse, 
103 ; sketch and family of, 223 ; saw- 
mill of, 241. 

Palmer, Clemens C, property of, 168, 
171. 

Palmer, Gordon, family of, 475. 

Palmer, Harry, property of, ]68. 

Park in Hopkinton village, 121. 

Parker, Eleazer, family of, 567. 

Patriot war, 342. 

Pearlash, manufacture of, 148. 

Peck, Azariah, property of, 16S. 

Peck, Hiram, farm and family, 109 ; 
death of wife, 330. 

Peck, Julius, farm and mill, 103. 

Peck, Myron G., and family, 213. 

Peck, Nathan, location of, 112, 119; 
signature of, 131; property of, 168; 
death of, 329 ; family of, 515. 



Peck, Orlin, family of, 515. 

Perry, John, elector, 144a; property of, 
168. 

Peter, Captain, noted Indian, 283. 

Phelps, Edwin O., family of, 520. 

Phelps, Jacob, property of, 168; family 
of, 516. 

Phelps, William S., family of, 517; 
property of, 590. 

Phillips, Israel, family of, 488. 

Physicians in town, 162 ; at Nicholville, 
244. 

Pierce, James, settlement, 39, 202 ; elec- 
tor, 57 ; signature of, 131. 

Pierce, Jonathan, settlement, 39, 202 ; 
elector, 57, 1440; signature of, 131. 

Pierrepont, Henry B., letter to, 268. 

Pigeons in great flocks, 331. 

Pioneers of town, mostly from Vermont, 
3 ; amusements of, 4 ; first to settle, 
8; from 1803 to 1808, 39; implements 
of, 46 ; children of, now living, 48 ; 
location of, 77. 

Plow of settlers, picture of, opp. 46. 

Pomeroy, John P., property of, 168; 
built house, 171. 

Post, Ellas, property of, 168 ; family of, 
514. 

Post, Noah, shop of, 179. 

Post, Reuben, settlement, 39 ; account, 
41 ; elector, 57, 1443; home of, 58 ; farm 
of, 98 ; signature of, 128; builds Town 
Room, 134 ; killed by fall, 276 ; death 
of wife, 354 ; family of, 513. 

Post, Truman E., contributes to build 
church, 141 ; family of, 515. 

Postmasters of town, 173. 

Poverty of the people, 279, 315. ■ 

Powers, Ai, family of, 428. 

Powers, Salmon, family of, 429. 

Pratt, Rev. Silas, family of, 485. 

Prices in 1804, 41 ; in 1835, 326, 332. 

Priest, V. T., family of, 566. 

Putnam, Seth, farm of, 112; his son 
Israel, 112 ; signature of, 131 ; elector, 
I44« ; property of, 168, 588; death of 
his son, 358 ; family of, 516. 

Putnam, Seth, Jr., settlement, 114. 



6oo 



INDEX. 



R 

Railroad, Northern, building of, 379. 

Ransom, Stephen, property of, 168; resi- 
dence, 172. 

Raymond, Sewall, family of, 497. 

Reed, John, property of, 168; settlement, 
172. 

Reeve, Benjamin, family of, 537. 

Reeve, Champion J., family of, 537. 

Reeve, Charles J. F., family of, 539. 

Reeve, Elisha R., 351 ; family of, 537. 

Reeve, Erastus, residence, 179 ; death of, 
351 ; family of, 536. 

Reeve, Sheldon P., family of, 540. 

Reeve, Stephen D., family of, 538. 

Reeve, Tapping, family of, 538. % 

Religion, austerity of, 143. 

Remington, Aurelius, settlement, 118; 
family of, 527 ; property of, 590. 

Remington, Emily A., goes to school, 116. 

Remington, S. C, property of, 168; 
postmaster, 173 ; family of, 525. 

Remington, Thomas, settlement, 39 ; ac- 
count, 41 ; elector, 57, 144a ; farm of, 
96 ; signature of, 130 ; family of, 525. 

Retrospect, a, things done in past hun- 
dred years, 45. 

Richardson, William, family of, 531. 

Richardson, William G., 105. 

Riggs, John, family, 549. 

Risdon, Elisha, settlement, 39; account 
with Mr. Hopkins, 40; elector, 57, 144a ; 
essay on deer hunting in 1805,59; letter 
to Phineas Durfey,6o ; building bridge 
at Lawrenceville, 6i ; fording St. 
Regis, 61 ; Dr. Hough's article, 63 
hunting trip to Cookham, 65 ; Turn 
pike road cut out in 1809, 65 1 Parish 
ville then unsettled, 66 ; essay on hunt 
ing in 1813, 68 ; his great passion for 
68 ; letters to Eliphalet Brush, 70 ; ex 
periences of pioneers, 71 ; schools, etc. 
72; farm of, 90; ruins of old cabin 
and sad reveries they awaken, g 
location on Turnpike, 100 ; property 
of, 168 ; statement as to his diary, 
264 ; goes to court at Ogdensburg, 
266 ; property of, 267 ; drafted, 267 j 
going west, 269 ; doctor cannot help 



him, 272 ; Mrs. Risdon's novel shocks 
him, 273 ; hunting camp, 289 ; religion, 
291 ; no shelter for cattle, 292 ; suffers 
for want of a fire, 292 ; clerk of town 
for twenty-one years, 303; digs well, 
310 ; takes roof off old cabin, 312 ; fire- 
place smokes, 313; J. Brooks visits 
him, 316; gloomy times, 318; no hat 
to go to church, 319 ; left Rupert, Vt., 
January 31, 1804, 328 ; a cry for spring, 
330 ; large family, 334 ; gets a cook 
stove, 337 ; visits old camp, 341 ; goes 
to Ontario County, 346; Mr. Short's 
agent, 349 ; tribute to Edna, 369 ; a 
prose ode on death of wife, 377 ; un- 
able to write, 391 ; sister Pratt visits 
him, 393 ; death of father and story of 
family, 398 ; deer killed by him, 402 ; 
family of, 520 ; property of, 590. 

Kisdon, E. Harmon, baptized, 269 ; goes 
to drill, 309 ; marries Mary A. Sheals, 
316 ; his stock, 374 ; children baptized, 
385 ; family of, 523 ; property of, 550. 

Road on north line of Islington, 14. 

Road to Potsdam, 54 ; road and bridges 
in 1805, 60 ; breaking roads, 294. 

Roberts, Ashford, family of, 533. 

Roberts, Eli, settlement, 39 ; elector, 57 
I44<!; location of, 90; his signature 
129; builds hall, 134; property of, 
168; death of wife, 370; family of, 528, 

Roberts, George Thurman, family of, 

533- 
Roberts, John S., family of, 532. 
Robinson, Charles P., marriage of, 3S9. 
Rockwood, George, family of, 668. 
Rockwood, Dr. Heman S., soldier in 

Civil War, 197. 
Roman Catholic Church, 144. 
Rudd, Nathaniel, settlement, 39 ; elector, 

57 ; location of, 85. 



St. Clair, Joseph, elector, 144c. 
St. Regis River, fording of, 60. 
Sanders, John, elector, I44«. 
Sanders, Jonathan, elector, 1443. 
Sanford, Benjamin, farm of, 113; in 
trouble, 355 ; family of, 571. 



INDEX. 



60 1 



Sanford, Carlton E_., views on killing 
deer, 70 ; revery on birthplace of 
mother, gi ; stealing dinner of, 106 ; ex- 
perience with unbound load of lumber, 
107 ; views on the inconsistency of 
war with religion, 291 ; birth of, 394 ; 
tribute to mother, 565 ; sketch of, 565. 

Sanford, Mrs. Clarinda (Risdon), spin- 
ning at eleven years, 296, 307, 309 ; 
gathering rye smut, 303 ; watching, 
303 ; sits on plank, 312 ; goes to school, 
313; ill but doesn't complain, 314; 
care of lamb, 318; loquacious, 324; 
falls from horse, 351 ; whitewashing, 
386; washing at brook, 390; married, 

392- 

Sanford, Darwin E., soldier in Civil 
War, 198. 

Sanford, Edwin D., soldier in Civil War, 
198. 

Sanford, Erasmus J., soldier in Civil 
War, 1 98. 

Sanford, Henry B., farm of, 113; sol. 
dier, 198 ; family of, 562. 

Sanford, Captain Henry T., soldier in 
Civil War, 198. 

Sanford, Daniel, family of, 573. 

Sanford, Jonah, tilt with Captain Free- 
man, III ; settlement in town, farm 
of, 115; signature of, 131 ; property 
of, 168, 590 ; soldier, 197 ; indomitable 
will of, 366 ; death of wife, 369 ; mar- 
riage of, 384 ; member of Constitu- 
tional Convention, 388 ; life of, and 
family of, 558. 

Sanford, Jonah, Jr., breaks the spell, 
107; farm of, 109, 116; builds town 
hall, 136; cuts himself, 372; plays 
flute, 385 ; sketch and family of, 564. 

Sanford, Rollin O., farm of, 109; soldier 
in Civil War, 198 ; family of, 566. 

Sanford, Samuel, settlement, 109; death 
of wife, 390. 

Saunders, Avery, elector, 57. 

Saunders, James, settlement, 39 ; elector, 
57, 144''- 

Sawmill, first, 30; in operation, 44; lo- 
cation of, 55; at East Village, 225; 
history of, 231. 



Schoolhouse in Durfey district, 93; 
Snell district, 103; when built, 398; 
Hazen district, io6; Sanford district, 
112; stone schoolhouse in village, 
126. 

School inspectors, 407. 

Seeley, Eliakim, settlement, 39; account, 
42; elector, 57, 144a; farm of, 85; 
tannery of, 156; property of, 168; 
death of, 364 ; death of widow, 400 ; 
family of, 552. 

Seeley, Burr, shooting of, 396. 

Settlers, mostly from Vermont, 2 ; set- 
tlers from 1803-1808, 39; implements 
of, 46 ; children of, now living, 48 ; of 
1814, 144a; of 1821, 167; of 1850, 
588. 

Shaw, Foster, family, 551. 

Sheals, John, teaches, 390. 

Sheals, John J., family of, 577. 

Sheals, Joseph, family of, 576. 

Sheals, William A., rents Baldwin farm, 
369 ; family of, 576. 

Sheldon, Abraham, settlement in town, 
19, 28 ; account, 42 ; elector, 57 ; farm 
of, 78 ; family of, 540. 

Sheldon, Alta, first female child born, 30. 

Sheldon, Mrs. Amanda, story of Abra- 
ham's coming to town, 22, 28. 

Sheldon, Asa U., family, 548. 

Sheldon, Gains, settlement in town, 27 ; 
account with Mr. Hopkins, 38, 4t ; 
elector, 57, 1440; farm of, 94; signa- 
ture of, 129; property of, 168 ; death 
of wife, 364 ; family of, 546. 

Sheldon, Heman, farm of, 1 1 7 ; signature 
of, 131 ; elector, 144a; property of, 
169 ; Ezra, son of, 117 ; family of, 567. 

Sheldon, Hiram, first child born, 30. 

Sheldon, Hiram B., family, 551. 

Sheldon, Isaac, settlement, 27. 

Sheldon, James A., bought first mowing 
machine in town, 47 ; family, 550. 

Sheldon, John, death of wife, 392 ; fam- 
ily, 541. 

Sheldon, King T., picture of old hall, 
126 ; family of, 551. 

Sheldon magazine, 29. 

Sheldon, Naam, elector, 57. 



6o2 



INDEX. 



Sheldon, Oliver, settlement, 39 ; account, 
43 ; elector, 57, 144(1 ; farm of, 80 ; pic- 
ture old house, 88; signature of, 129; 
raises house, 266 ; foot amputated, 
274 ; death of wife, 359 ; family of, 
550. 

Sherar, James, 236. 

Sherwood, Milton H., family of, 536. 

Simonds, George A., family of, 554. 

Simonds, Joseph M., family of, 558. 

Simonds, Samuel M., signature of, 129 ; 
elector, 14412; property of, 168; fam- 
ily of, 554. 

Simons, Solon C, family of, 556. 

Simons, Sullivan, family of, 557. 

Slavery question, 251. 

Smith, Dr. Hiram D., 245. 

Smith, George, family of, 575. 

Smith, Ira, farm of, 99 ; family, 570. 

Smith, Ira, family of, 543. 

Smith, Ira II., store of, 238. 

Smith, Isaiah, property of, 169. 

Smith, James, death of wife, 369. 

Smith, John C, family of, 574. 

Smith, Josiali, farm of, 102 ; family of, 
574- 

Smith, Loren, family of, 575. 

Smith, Willard, 105. 

Snell, Franklin B., family of, 504. 

Snell, Hiram, location of, 86. 

Snell, Hiram K., family of, 504. 

Snell, Isaac, farm of, 103 ; family of, 503. 

Snow in 1804, 395. 

Soldiers in Civil War, 187; War of 
181 2, 268, 270. 

Spencer, William, property of, 169, 172. 

Sprague, Dr. Charles A. L., family, 553. 

Sprague, Dr. Fayette P., 162 ; postmas- 
ter, 173. 

Sprague, Dr. Gideon, came to town in 
1 81 1, 88; location of, 88; picture of 
house, opp. 88; signature of, 131 ; trus- 
tee of town hall, 134; elector, I44« ; 
property of, 168; sells his ride, 271 ; 
death of wife, 308 ; family of, 552. 

Squire, Asa, farm of, 117 ; property of, 
169. 

Squire, Ashbel, settlement in town, 19 ; 
first cabin of, 23 ; account, 41 ; elector. 



57, 144a ; farm of, 93 ; signature of, 131 ; 

property of, 168 ; death of wife, 368 ; 

family of, 543. 
Squire, Eben, farm of, 97. 
Squire, Ebenezer, 103. 
Squire, Eli, settlement, 19; elector, 57, 

I44«; farm of, 92 ; property of, 169 ; 

family of, 542. 
Squire, Russell, family, 545. 
Stacy, Dennis, and family of, 215. 
Stacy, George B., 217. 
Stage route, story of, 174. 
Stark, George, location of, 86. 
Stearns, Joseph E., and family of, 214. 
Stephens, Augustine, elector, 144a. 
Stewart, Chancey A., elector, 57. 
Stone, William, family of, 490. 
Story, Allen C, family of, 585. 
Stove, when got, 314. 
Supervisors of town, 404. 
Sweet, Sumner, sketch of, 221 ; store of, 

238. 
Swift, J. Henry, family of, 584. 
Sylvester, Daniel, farm, 119. 



Tanneries in town, 156; in East Village, 

241. 
Taxpayers in 1807, 57; in 1814, 144a; 

in 1821, 167; in 1850, 588. 
Taylor, Ebenezer, property of, 169. 
Taylor, Jonathan, property of, 169. 
Thomas, Chauncey D., property of, 169; 

taken prisoner, 271 ; family of, 57S. 
Thomas, James, property of, 169. 
Thomas, John, settlement, 39; elector, 

57, 144*; signature of, 130; hotel of, 

160; property of, 169, 170; carding 

mill, 226 ; distillery, 227 ; raised store, 

279. 
Thomas, Zebel, farm of, 81 ; elector, 144a; 

family of, 577. 
Tilden, Calvin, family of, 506., 
Tinkham, A., property of, 169. 
Town clerks, 404. 
Town meeting, first, 52; officials, 53; 

abstract of minutes from 1806-1901, 

416. 
Town officers, 1806-1902, 404. 



INDEX. 



603 



Town Room, 126 ; diagram of, 133 ; lead 
plate in corner stone, 134; new town 
hall, 136. 

Train, Harry, settlement, 39. 

Train, Horace, settlement, 39 ; elector, 
57, 144a ; built bridge, 62 ; farm of, 82 ; 
property of, 169 ; family of, 579. 

Train, Robert, settlement, 39; account, 
42 ; elector, 57. 

Training, military, 354. 

Tree, first one cut in town, 11. 

Trip hammer shop, 86 ; story of, 276, 284. 

Trussell, Isaac, property of, 169 ; family 
of, 210. 

Trussell, James, signature of, 130 ; elect- 
or, 1440. 

Trussell, Samis, property of, 169. 

Turnpike, cut out, 66. 

Tyler, Ebenezer, elector, 144a. 

Tyler, Joseph, elector, 144^. 

Tyler, Samuel, elector, 144(5. 

U 

Universalist Church, 185 ; at Nicholville, 
257. 

Universalists, great meeting of, at vil- 
lage, 320. 

Upham, James, upset in lake, 352 ; at- 
tempts suicide, 355. 



Van Buren, Martin, in town, 322. 
Varrick, Abraham, became owner of 

land, 122. 
Village Green, 121. 
Voters of 1807, 57; of 1814, 144a; of 

1821, 167; of 1850, 58S. 



Warner, A. Larned, family of, 580. 

Warner, W. Friend, family of, 580. 

Warriner, Hiram, family of, 487. 

Warriner,' William, location of, 85. 

Warriner, Willis, property of, 169 ; elect- 
or, 144*; family of, 584. 

Wead, Harry, had house, 179. 

Wead, John K., location of, 85 ; distress 
in New York City, 86 ; property of, 
169. 

Wead, Stephen, property of, 169. 

Wells, George, shop of, 182. 

Wescott, Stephen, marriage of, 372. 

Wheat two dollars per bushel, 280. 

Wheelock, Royal T,, Russell and Levi 
D., 119. 

Whitcher, Joshua, elector, 1441^. 

Whitten, Rev. William V., family of, 

539- 

Wickware, Charles, sketch and family 
of, 523- 

Wing, Orange, family of, 512. 

Wilson, Edson J., sketch and family of, 
5H3- 

Wilson, Friend W., family of, 583. 

Wilson, Luman O., family of, 584. 

Wilson, Mrs. N. Maria, 230. 

Wilson, Samuel, 82 ; property of, 169; 
sawmill of, 225 ; gristmill of, 228 ; his- 
tory of, 231 ; raised store and house, 
279 ; raised sawmill, 2S1 ; son killed, 
371 i sketch and family of, 582. 

Winnie, Cornelius, family of, 586. 

Winnie, Fitch B., family of, 587. 

Winslow, Elnathan S., family of, 534. 

Witherill, Dr. Henry M., farm of, 118; 
practised in town, 162 ; family of. 



W 

Wakefield, Ebenezer, elector, 1441^. 
War, Civil, soldiers in, 187 ; action of 

town, 422. 
War 1812, 267, 269. 
War, Patriot, 342. 
Warner, Aaron, settlement in town, 26 ; 

account, 421; elector, 57,1 441^ ; assisted 

to build bridge, 62 ; story of farm, 92 ; 

signature of, 130; property of, 169; 

raises barn, 266 ; family of, 580. 



Witherill, Stephen Russell, farm of, 103 ; 

family of, 585. 
Wolves' bounty, 53; killed sheep, 309 ; 

hunting of, 344. 
Wood, Rev. Enos, 142, 399. 
Wood, E. Allen, 222. 
Wood, Hiram, family of, 222. 
Wood, Mrs. Jane E., story of bread, 14. 
Woodworth, J. E., property of, 169. 
Wool, manufacture of, 149. 
Wright, Asahel, settlement, 27, 39, 91. 



.' 2. 
604. INDEX. , , 

Wright, Caleb, settlement, 39; account, Wright, Geo. S., picture house, opp. 92 ; 

43 ; elector, 57, 1441^ ; assisted to build opinion of Joseph Durfey, 97 ; locates 

bridge, 62 ; farm of, 95 ; signature of, Nathan Peck, 1 1 1 ; attended school in 

130 ; .'property of, i6g, 591; death of, Putnam district, 113; Barney Moon 

355; family of, 581. place, 117; sketch and family of, 581. 

Wright, Caleb, Jr., merchant, 181 ; 

sketch and family of, 581. Y 

Wright, liben, property of, 169. Voung, Simeon, settlement of, 104. 






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